Content Validation for a Medical-Surgical Orientation Competency Assessment Instrument

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Clinical Competency Assessment

Background:

• Demonstrating competency is crucial for nursing orientation.
• Standardized assessments using validated instruments enhance patient safety and care quality.
• A need exists for reliable tools to measure registered nurse (RN) clinical competency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish content validation for a newly developed competency-based assessment for RNs.
• To align the assessment with the national standard for nursing education.
• To ensure the assessment accurately measures clinical competency in the medical-surgical specialty.

Main Methods:

• Engaged six nurse experts in a rigorous review process.
• Conducted two rounds of expert evaluation for content validation.
• Calculated the scale content validity index (CVI) for universal agreement.

Main Results:

• The assessment was framed by the domains of the national standard for nursing education.
• Achieved a scale content validity index universal agreement of .891.
• All assessment items were evaluated as relevant for measuring RN clinical competency.

Conclusions:

• The newly developed competency-based assessment is content-validated.
• This validated instrument supports high-quality nursing orientation and patient safety.
• The assessment provides a comprehensive measure of RN clinical competency in medical-surgical nursing.