Psychometrics of an Eight-Item Pulmonary Artery Catheter Safe-Care Assessment Tool for Critical Care Nurses.

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The ability to safely care for patients with pulmonary artery catheters (PACs) is an essential skill for critical care nurses, yet no valid and reliable test exists to assess this knowledge. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometrics of a test created to assess nurses' knowledge of PAC safe-care. Methods: Reliability was assessed using Kuder-Richardson-20, and validity was assessed using item difficulty, discrimination, and known-groups comparison. Results: The sample (N = 95) consisted of new graduates and experienced nurses. Reliability was less than desired (.657) but expected due to the small number of test items. Validity was supported by item difficulty, discrimination indices, and known-groups comparison. Conclusion: Assessing the reliability and validity of test questions is a crucial step for creating accurate instruments to assess safe-care practices, which can be used to improve course content and evaluation methods.