A Standardized measure: NDNQI nursing care hours indicator

Area of Science:

• Nursing Quality Indicators
• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety Research

Background:

• Nursing care hours (NCH) is a key metric for analyzing inpatient adverse events.
• The reliability of NCH data has been infrequently evaluated, posing a challenge for accurate quality assessment.
• Understanding NCH data reliability is crucial for valid hospital benchmarking and research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the reliability of nursing care hours (NCH) data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators®.
• To determine the consistency of NCH measurements across different data sources.
• To provide evidence for the trustworthiness of NCH data in quality improvement initiatives.

Main Methods:

• The study compared NCH data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® and the California Office for Statewide Health Planning and Development.
• Hospital-level aggregated NCH data for critical care units were linked for 48 matched California hospitals.
• Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to estimate data reliability.

Main Results:

• Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) indicated substantial reliability for registered nurse (RN) hours (ICC = .96).
• Reliability for non-RN hours was also found to be substantial (ICC = .72).
• These findings support the consistency of NCH data across the two databases.

Conclusions:

• The NCH data within the national database demonstrate significant reliability.
• This reliability supports the use of NCH data for national comparable benchmarking.
• The findings validate the use of NCH data for hospitals' quality improvement activities and research.