Development and psychometric testing of Holistic Clinical Assessment Tool (HCAT) for undergraduate nursing students

Abstract

BackgroundA major focus in nursing education is on the judgement of clinical performance, and it is a complex process due to the diverse nature of nursing practice. A holistic approach in assessment of competency is advocated. Difficulties in the development of valid and reliable assessment measures in nursing competency have resulted in the development of assessment instruments with an increase in face and content validity, but few studies have tested these instruments psychometrically. It is essential to develop a holistic assessment tool to meet the needs of the clinical education. The study aims to develop a Holistic Clinical Assessment Tool (HCAT) and test its psychometric properties.MethodsThe HCAT was developed based on the systematic literature review and the findings of qualitative studies. An expert panel was invited to evaluate the content validity of the tool. A total of 130 final-year nursing undergraduate students were recruited to evaluate the psychometric properties (i.e. factor structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability) of the tool.ResultsThe HCAT has good content validity with content validity index of .979. The exploratory factor analysis reveals a four-factor structure of the tool. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the HCAT are satisfactory with Cronbach alpha ranging from .789 to .965 and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient ranging from .881 to .979 for the four subscales and total scale.ConclusionsHCAT has the potential to be used as a valid measure to evaluate clinical competence in nursing students, and provide specific and ongoing feedback to enhance the holistic clinical learning experience. In addition, HCAT functions as a tool for self-reflection, peer-assessment and guides preceptors in clinical teaching and assessment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0768-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Developing a standardized tool for assessing the ICT competence of the agricultural extension personnel

“…After applying PCA, statements were exacted on the basis of correlation score of 0.60 and above, as this increased the possibility of including more competencies. The notion of how much value of correlation should be acceptable varies largely amongst research studies (Field, 2005;Roab et al, 2012, Wu et al, 2016. The face validity was adjudged as very relevant for most and relevant for some of the statements by the respondent.…”

Clinical nursing competency assessment: a scoping review

“…preparation and administration of parenteral medication 41,47 ; handwashing 38 ; documentation 38 ; blood sampling 48 ; inserting peripheral lines 41 and management of care. 49 NTS that were assessed included: self-learning and critical thinking 44 ; interpersonal skills 22 ; ethical behavior 44 ; nurse-patient communication 36,44 ; risk prevention 44 ; nursing students' communication performance on advocacy, the therapeutic use of self and validation to patients and family 46 ; and ethical principles and professionalism. 31 The studies presenting the tools in Table 2 were mainly focused on the assessment of clinical competency skills 29 ; preceptor experience of using competency tools 45 ; anxiety level of students during the assessment 28 ; assessment practices of nurse educators and managers 37 ; involvement of clinical nurses as mentors 35 ; mentors experiences when nursing students are on the borderline of achievement of competence in clinical practice.…”

“…42 Other areas included comparing nursing students' self-assessment and mentors' assessments on competency skills 33 ; and influence of assessors, 16 professional, legal and ethical nursing practice, leadership and nursing management and professional development. 49…”

Exploration of the expected and achieved competency levels of new graduate nurses

“…This is because the globalization of health care is inevitable and as global health issues change so does the competency required to deliver appropriate care, for example changing management of patients with emerging infectious diseases (Edmonson, McCarthy, Trent‐Adams, McCain, & Marshall, 2017). It should also be considered in a local context because competencies are related to the ability of nurses to practise in a specific context, which evolves with a population's need and within the health care system in which care takes place (Wu, Enskär, Pua, Heng, & Wang, 2016).…”

“…However, these scales were evaluated the content validity based on each nation's context and the educational structures, which differ in the length of a nursing programme and graduation requirements. Therefore, a question remains about these instruments in what context they can be applied as different countries have different perspectives on nursing competencies (Wu et al., 2016). There are competency assessment tools in Korea, the country where the study was conducted, but these instruments have limitations, such as only focusing on clinical performance and failing to cover global trends.…”