Development of a clinical competency evaluation scale for operating room nurses

Abstract

　The aim of this study was to develop a scale for evaluating perioperative nursing competence in the operating room. A selfevaluation questionnaire comprising proficiency levels of operating room nurses’ clinical competence level revised from parts of the Japanese Perioperative Nursing Academy rating scale was used. The questionnaire was mailed to nurses with more than five years of operating room experience, and the responses were analyzed. The adequacy of the survey items was reviewed using item analysis and exploratory factor analysis. Correlation coefficients and Cronbach’s alpha were used to analyze the reliability and construct validity of the final questionnaire.

　Valid responses were obtained from 857 nurses. Factor analysis revealed that the 33 items aligned with perioperative nursing competence in five categories: “scrub nursing competence”, “circulating nursing competence”, “education and management”, “research”, and “ethics”. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire scale was .97. For the known-groups validity, the high group had a significantly higher perioperative competence than the low group in perioperative nursing experience. The 33-item scale with a 5-factor structure was generally reliable and valid in the assessment of structural characteristics of perioperative nursing competence in the operating room.