Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation: reliability update

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Nursing
• Psychometric Evaluation

Background:

• The Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE) is a 30-item scale developed in 1965.
• It was designed for behavioral and observational rating of psychiatric inpatients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To re-evaluate the NOSIE for reliability in a contemporary United Kingdom (UK) setting.
• To confirm the scale's ongoing validity and utility in current clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• A joint-rated assessment was performed, evaluating agreement between two individual raters.
• 100 psychiatric inpatients were rated by two nurses each.
• A least-squares simple regression model analyzed the average agreement between rating pairs.

Main Results:

• The total scale scores demonstrated a correlation of 0.76 (P < 0.0001).
• Correlations for Negative and Positive Factors were 0.68 (P < 0.001) and 0.75 (P < 0.001), respectively.
• These results indicate satisfactory inter-rater reliability.

Conclusions:

• The NOSIE retains satisfactory inter-rater reliability with current clinical populations.
• The scale is suggested as a useful tool for everyday clinical practice.
• It provides a basis for meaningful communication among staff regarding patient status.