Measuring clinical nurse performance: development of the King's Nurse Performance Scale

The development of the King's Nurse Performance Scale to measure clinical nurse performance is described. Instrument construction was informed by the Slater Nursing Competencies Rating Scale [Wandelt, M. A. and Stewart, D. S. (1975) Slater Nursing Competencies Rating Scale. Appleton-Century Crofts, New York] together with key literature and the use of expert opinion. The instrument was utilised to observe the clinical performance of senior student nurses (n = 99) and data which were at the ordinal level were statistically analysed using a variety of non-parametric tests. Key findings of students' observed nursing practice are presented in a separate paper (While et al., unpublished document). Internal consistency testing of the King's Nurse Performance Scale using Cronbach's alpha coefficient revealed a promising alpha for the total instrument (r = 0.93). The subsection alphas indicated that further refinement may enhance the strength of the instrument as a tool for the measurement of performance in different domains of practice. The possible use of the Scale in the professional development of newly qualified nurses is suggested.