Pilot testing of the Starship Infant Neurological Assessment tool

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nursing
• Neurological Assessment
• Infant Development

Background:

• Assessing neurological function in young children presents unique challenges due to developmental immaturity.
• Standardized tools are essential for consistent and comprehensive infant neurological assessments.
• The Starship Infant Neurological Assessment (SINA) tool was developed for children under two years old.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the interrater reliability of the Starship Infant Neurological Assessment (SINA) tool.
• To determine the consistency of SINA tool assessments performed by different nurses.
• To identify areas for improvement in the SINA tool for infant neurological evaluations.

Main Methods:

• Four infants under two years of age were videotaped during neurological assessments using the SINA tool.
• Seven experienced nurses independently reviewed the videotaped assessments.
• Nurses completed the 21-item SINA tool based on their observations of the videotaped assessments.

Main Results:

• Interrater reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients.
• The SINA tool demonstrated good reliability for 17 out of the 21 items.
• Specific items showed high consistency among the assessing nurses.

Conclusions:

• The SINA tool is a reliable instrument for conducting neurological assessments in infants under two years of age.
• The study supports the use of the SINA tool by nurses for comprehensive infant neurological evaluations.
• Future research should focus on refining existing items and potentially adding new ones to further enhance the SINA tool's utility.