The Development Of Comprehensive Inventory Of Core Competency For Critical Care Nurses

Objective:1.To develop a Comprehensive Inventory of Core Competency for Critical Care Nurses in China.2.To evaluate its psychometric parameters.Methods:1.The development of Comprehensive Inventory of Core Competency for Critical Care Nurses was based on the core competence theory and the role theory. The original item pool with151items was formulated through panel discussion, and referring to relevant literature and scales. Through expert evaluation and pre-test, a scale of91items was developed. And the scale was tested among551critical care nurses in5Tertiary-A General Hospitals in Changsha.2.The distribution of items, coefficient of variation, critical ratio and correlation coefficient were used to analyse the items.3.The exploratory factor analysis(EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) were utilized to develop the intra-structure of the scale.4.Reliability was assessed by Cronbach’s a, split reliability and test-retest reliability. Construct validity was evaluated by content validity, construct validity, criterion-related validity and discrimination validity.Results:1.Item analysis:10items were deleted,100items were reserved.2.Factor analysis:9items were deleted. The final scale had91items and6factors, include professional knowledge and skills(12～37,26items), patients’ safety and rights(51～72,22items), academic competence(38-50,13items), professional ethics(1～11,11items), teamwork(73-82,10items) and individual and professional development competence(83-91,9items). The item responses were calculated by5categories and the total score was from91to455, the higher the score, the higher level of core competency.3.Reliability test:(1)The Cronbach’s a of the scale and six factors were0.988and0.897～0.976.(2)The split reliability of the scale and six factors were0.941and0.817～0.954.(3)The test-retest reliability of the scale and six factors were0.985and0.773～0.949.4.Validity test:(1)Content validity:The item content validity index(I-CVI) was0.842～1.000, the scale content validity index universal agreement(S-CⅥ/UA) was0.813and the scale content validity index average(S-CⅥAve) was0.946.(2)Criterion-related validity:The scale score has positive relation with comprehensive inventory for registered nurses(CIRN), and the correlation coefficients between the scale and CIRN were0.738～0.877(P<0.01).(3)Construct validity:EFA developed6factors, which was very close to the theoretical construct, and the6factors explained for66.407%variances. CFA showed the model fit was acceptable. Correlation coefficients between items and factors were0.579～0.894, and it were0.507～0.838among all the factors, and it were0.784～0.945between all the factors and the total scores, respectively.(4)Discrimination validity:the scale could well discriminate the level of core competency of critical care nurses with different ages, different working years, different professional titles, different educational levels, and different departments.Conclusion:1.The Comprehensive Inventory of Core Competency for Critical Care Nurses was developed.2.The scale has good reliability and validity, fit psychometric requirements, and it can be popularized to evaluate the core competency level for critical care nurses.