Development and validation of the self-administration of medication tool

Consumer participation in planning and implementing health care is actively encouraged as a means of improving patient outcomes. In assessing the ability of patients to self-medicate, health professionals can identify areas in which patients need assistance, education, and intervention to optimize their health outcomes after discharge.

To develop and validate a tool to quantify the ability of patients to administer their regularly scheduled medications while they are hospitalized.

Past research enabled us to develop the Self-Administration of Medication (SAM) tool. Using a Delphi technique of 3 rounds, a panel of expert health professionals established the content validity of the tool. For determining level of agreement in using the SAM tool, 56 patients were selected; for each patient, 2 randomly selected nurses completed an assessment. Construct validity and internal consistency were examined by testing the tool in 50 patients and comparing with other validated scales.

The 29-item SAM tool had high content validity scores for clarity, representation, and comprehensiveness, with content validity index values ranging from 0.95-1.0. In testing the level of agreement between 2 nurses, out of 43 valid cases, 95.3% of nurses overwhelmingly agreed about the patients' competence to self-administer their drugs. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.819 (95% CI 0.666 to 0.902). Internal consistency for the SAM tool was high, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.899. A moderate to strong correlation was obtained when comparing the SAM tool with other validated measures.

The SAM tool is valid and reliable for quantifying patients' ability to manage their regularly scheduled medications in the hospital setting.