Patient Classification System for alcohol and other drugs: construction and validation

To construct and validate a nursing care dependency classification system for alcohol and other drugs.

A psychometric study. We used the agreement percentage and intraclass correlation coefficient for inter-rater agreement. The Receiver Operating Characteristic was used to determine values and accuracy of the cut-off points. The steps were literature review, content validation and clinical validation.

Fifteen (15) judges, 6 nurses and 65 users of psychiatric emergency and hospitalization units participated. There were 11 indicators divided into three subcategories of dependency, and a sum between 11 and 33. The agreement regarding the judges' evaluation on the categories was satisfactory, being equal to or higher than 80%. Agreement was satisfactory among the nurses in most of the indicators (K>0.400), and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was equal to 0.723.

The Classification System of Patients for Alcohol and other Drugs presents statistical evidence of reliability, obtained by a satisfactory inter-rater agreement. Its applicability is widely believed to assist in the management of nursing care and team sizing.