Unit-Based Nurses' Development of a Couplet Care Acuity Scoring Tool.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Administration
• Patient Acuity Measurement

Background:

• Developing accurate patient acuity scoring tools is crucial for resource allocation and quality patient care.
• The couplet care, postpartum, and nursery settings have unique patient needs requiring specialized assessment tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the content validity (CV) and interrater reliability (IRR) of a newly developed acuity scoring tool.
• To assess agreement between supervisor/director scoring and staff scoring for the tool.
• To validate the tool for use in couplet care, postpartum, and nursery patient populations.

Main Methods:

• A scoring tool was developed with input from unit-based patient care councils.
• Content validity was assessed using expert review and discriminant content validation.
• Interrater reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients and universal agreement scores.

Main Results:

• The Couplet Care Acuity Scoring Tool achieved a content validity score of 1.00.
• The tool demonstrated strong interrater reliability with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.85.
• The results indicate the tool is both valid and reliable for the studied patient population.

Conclusions:

• The developed acuity scoring tool is reliable and valid for couplet care, postpartum, and nursery patients.
• Further research with larger and diverse healthcare facilities is recommended to broaden the tool's applicability.
• The tool supports accurate patient acuity assessment in specialized maternal-infant units.