Development of a measurement instrument to assess patient safe transition at hospital discharge

To develop and validate the content of a measurement instrument to assess the quality of care transitions and patient safety at hospital discharge from the nurses' perspective.

A methodological study developed in southern Brazil between April 2019 and January 2022, in three stages: integrative review and semi-structured interviews with six nurses for construction of the instrument; content validation with a committee of 14 experts; and a pre-test with 20 nurses. A Content Validity Index above 0.80 was employed.

A measurement instrument with 37 items organized into six domains was developed, as follows: structure; discharge planning; care education; referral for continuity of care; safety culture, and care transitions results. The general Content Validity Index reached 0.93.

The measurement instrument presented content validation and will contribute to understanding transitional care in the Brazilian context, proposing changes to qualify and strengthen patient safety at hospital discharge.