Nursing skill assessment within populations: Scale development and testing
Maree Johnson
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Centre for Applied Nursing Research (Joint facility of SSWAHS and University of Western Sydney), College of Health and Science, University of Western Sydney, Penrith NSW
Jane Marsden
Director, JAM Training & Development, Sydney NSW
Elizabeth Day
Director, Avanti Consulting Pty Ltd, Sydney NSW
Sungwon Chang
Associate Lecturer, College of Social and Health Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Macarthur, NSW
PP: 046 - 057
Abstract
This study examined the reliability and validity of an instrument to measure the skill level of registered nurses within an Australian state.
Internal consistency and construct validity of the scale and subscales were investigated in a sample of 1223 registered nurses from varying practice areas. The scale consisted of 105 skills within 13 practice domains: nursing practice, professional practice, acute care, community and public health, rural and remote area nursing, service delivery, self-management, supervision, resource management, improving processes, training and development, research, and technology. Twelve subscales obtained reliability co-efficients of 0.85 or more, with one at 0.81. The 13 factors explained 64.5 per cent of the cumulative variance, adequately capturing the concept of nursing skill.
This scale, and its subscales, represent valid and reliable tools for the assessment and monitoring of skill levels in a population of nurses, within some limitation.
Keywords
nursing skills assessment
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