Nursing intensity as a predictor of resource consumption in public health nursing

The community Health Intensity Rating Scale (CHIRS) has been found to explain variations in resource consumption by home health care clients. The purposes of this study were to determine the amount of variance in nursing resource consumption among public health nursing (PHN) clients explained by CHIRS and to assess whether the four CHIRS domains accurately represent its underlying structure. The sample included 133 PHN clients from three programs: frail older adult, high-risk prenatal, and high-risk infant. CHIRS total score significantly predicted variation in nursing resource consumption in two of the three PHN programs when a composite measure of resource consumption, referred to as nursing effort, was used as the criterion variable. A principal components factor analysis of CHIRS produced a three-factor solution, two of which were reliable enough for use as subscales. A contextual/behavioral subscale and a physiological subscale increased the variance in nursing resource consumption explained in two of the three PHN programs.