Numeracy for midwifery practice A brand new RCM endorsed e-resource providing step-by-step guidance on how to calculate drug dosages is now available from the MIDIRS website for 9.50 (including VAT). Produced by Dr Christine Butenuth , the resource is tailor made for health care practitioners and students and takes the reader through the principles of quantity and quality, fractions and rules for their calculation, decimals, percentages, and unit conversions amongst many others. When first considering a career in midwifery, many prospective applicants are unlikely to have considered skills in numeracy as a key component of their future professional practice. While there are a range of clinical skills and competencies that immediately spring to mind as being synonymous with the midwife's role -- eg abdominal palpation, intrapartum care and breastfeeding support -- numeracy skills tend to be overlooked. Being numerate, however, is integral to various aspects of midwifery practice including drug administration and medicines management. Practitioners' responsibilities in this area include the safe storage, management and administration of medicines, including midwife prescribing in accordance with the Prescription by Nurses Act 1992 (NMC 2007), as well as the administration of intravenous solutions to pregnant women, new mothers and their babies. While blood is not classified as a medicinal product, blood clotting factors, antibodies and albumin, which are all derived from the plasma component of blood, are licensed for this purpose (NMC 2007). Furthermore, the increased medical and social complexity now being seen across many UK maternity services has brought maternity professionals into