Use of the ICU Nurse-Physician Questionnaire (ICU N-P-Q): testing reliability and validity in neonatal intensive care units in Japan

Evaluation of the Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation Handover Tool in Improving Communication and Satisfaction Among Jordanian Nurses Working in Intensive Care Units

BACKGROUND

The SBAR (situation, background, assessment, and recommendation) is a standardized handover tool that has been utilized in health care settings. It has positive impacts on staff communication and patient quality of care. In Jordan, few reports are available about handover tools' impacts.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the implementation of the SBAR among nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) in Jordan.

METHODS

A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. A convenience sample of 71 ICU nurses participated. The 43-item ICU physician-nurse questionnaire was used to measure SBAR effectiveness as measured by the following subscales: general relationship and communication, teamwork and leadership, and job satisfaction.

RESULTS

There was a significant improvement in posttest knowledge scores and in "general relationships and communication" and "satisfaction" scores. There was a significant improvement in both "general relationships and communication" and "satisfaction" posttest scores compared with their pretest scores (t = 16.709, 2.656; P < .001, P < .01) consecutively.

CONCLUSIONS

This study revealed a strong indicator to encourage the SBAR utilization among nurses in health care settings. The SBAR has a positive impact on enhancing communication between nurses and increasing their job satisfaction. Thus, the utilization of such a standardized tool that maintains and assures good communication relationships shall increase level of satisfaction. Future studies are recommended to provide further evidence on its feasibility and efficacy as compared with traditional handover tools and among different health care contexts.

Psychometric properties of an instrument measuring communication within and between the professional groups licensed practical nurses and registered nurses in anaesthetic clinics

BACKGROUND

The most common cause of clinical incidents and adverse events in relation to surgery is communication error. There is a shortage of studies on communication between registered nurses and licenced practical nurses as well as of instruments to measure their perception of communication within and between the professional groups. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the adapted ICU Nurse-Physician Questionnaire, designed to also measure communication within and between two professional groups: licensed practical nurses and registered nurses. Specifically, the aim was to examine the instrument's construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis and its internal consistency using Cronbach's Alpha.

METHODS

A cross-sectional and correlational design was used. The setting was anaesthetic clinics in two Swedish hospitals. A total of 316 questionnaires were delivered during spring 2011, of which 195 were analysed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Construct validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency using Cronbach's Alpha. To assess items with missing values, we conducted a sensitivity analysis of two sets of data, and to assess the assumption of normally distributed data, we used Bayesian estimation.

RESULTS

The results support the construct validity and internal consistency of the adapted ICU Nurse-Physician Questionnaire. Model fit indices for the confirmative factor analysis were acceptable, and estimated factor loadings were reasonable. There were no large differences between the estimated factor loadings when comparing the two samples, suggesting that items with missing values did not alter the findings. The estimated factor loadings from Bayesian estimation were very similar to the maximum likelihood results. This indicates that confirmative factor analysis using maximum likelihood produced reliable factor loadings. Regarding internal consistency, alpha values ranged from 0.72 to 0.82.

CONCLUSIONS

The tests of the adapted ICU Nurse-Physician Questionnaire indicate acceptable construct validity and internal consistency, both of which need to be further tested in new settings and samples.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Current controlled trials http://www.controlled-trials.com Communication and patient safety in anaesthesia and intensive care. Does implementation of SBAR make any differences? Identifier: ISRCTN37251313, retrospectively registered (assigned 08/11/2012).

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Professional Communication Questionnaire for the Operating Room

Effective communications play a significant role in environments where health care is provided. A review of the available literature did not yield a valid scale for evaluation of operating room nurse-doctor communication. Accordingly, the present study is an attempt at development and psychometric evaluation of a professional communication questionnaire for the operating room. The present study is a methodological work conducted in two steps. In the first stage of the study, 56 items on a 5-point Likert scale were developed according to the results of a review of relevant literature and several meetings with experts. Next, following a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the face and content validity of the questionnaire, 41 items remained. An assessment of the construct validity of the questionnaire using factor analysis yielded six factors. In this stage, 410 operating room nurses and doctors who were randomly selected from six hospitals affiliated with the university participated. Cronbach's alpha for the internal homogeneity of the instrument was found to be .88; the results of the test-retest showed its consistency to be .91. The findings show that the developed instrument has enough validity and reliability to be used to evaluate professional communication in operating rooms.