Assessment of the Roles of Critical Care Nurses: Tool Development, Psychometric Properties, and Nurses' Perceptions.

Abstract

Critical care nursing is considered one of the most challenging and demanding fields in nursing. Critical care nurses work in high-stress environments, tending to patients who are experiencing acute illness and necessitate intensive care. Nurses play a crucial role in providing nursing care for critically ill patients, encompassing duties such as assessment, administration of medications, ventilator management, diligent monitoring, and responding to life-saving situations. Despite the significance of their contributions, there are limited assessment tools used to assess critical care nurses' perceptions about their roles and responsibilities in intensive care units (ICU). The main aim of this study was to develop a tool to assess the critical care nurses' knowledge, awareness, and perception of their roles and responsibilities in the critical care units. The researcher developed the Critical Care Nurses' Roles and Responsibilities Assessment Tool. Subsequently, the tool underwent content validity assessment by five nursing experts, resulting in a final tool with 17 Likert-scale items. The scores ranged from 17 to 85, with intervals indicating varying levels of awareness. To assess the nurses' perception of the roles and responsibilities identified in the tool, a study was conducted on 120 registered nurses working in the ICU units across 9 governmental hospitals in Jordan. Data were collected through an online questionnaire covering demographical data and the roles and responsibilities of critical care nurses in the ICU. The collected data were subjected to quantitative analysis using appropriate statistical methods. Regarding the results among the experts, the content validity index (CVI) of the tool was 0.93. Among the participants, Cronbach alpha was measured to assess the reliability and internal consistency of the tool and the result was 0.912. Regarding the nurses' perception, a small percentage of participants, specifically (9%), demonstrated a moderate level of agreement with the roles and responsibilities mentioned in the tool (mean of scores = 40 - 63). Conversely, a substantial majority of participants (91%), exhibited a high level of agreement (mean of scores = 64 - 85). In conclusion, the results of this study revealed a powerful and reliable tool that has earned widespread acclaim among experts and participants alike.