MEASURING CLINICAL NURSE PERFORMANCE - DEVELOPMENT OF THE KINGS NURSEPERFORMANCE SCALE

The development of the King's Nurse Performance Scale to measure clini cal nurse performance is described. Instrument construction was inform ed by the Slater Nursing Competencies Rating Scale [Wandelt, M. A, and Stewart, D. S. (1975) Slater Nursing Competencies Rating Scale. Apple ton-Century Crofts, New York] together with key literature and the use of expert opinion. The instrument was utilised to observe the clinica l 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 Key findings of students' observed nursing practice are presented in a separate paper (While et al., unpublished document) .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 u sing Cronbach's alpha coefficient revealed a promising alpha for the t otal instrument (r = 0.93). The subsection alphas indicated that furth er 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 qua lified nurses is suggested. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.