Evaluating Psychometric Properties of the Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City (SBAHC) Nurses’ Electronic Handover Tool

Abstract

Introduction: Handover is crucial during the transfer of patient care between healthcare professionals.Successful handover maintains patients' safety and high-quality care. The electronic handover of patients’ information is achievable, feasible, and potentially improves the quality of patient care. However, the introduction of the electronic handover is relatively recent and challenging for healthcare providers, especially nurses. Objectives: Since Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City (SBAHC) has recently implemented an electronic handover system among nurses, the main aim of the current study was to develop a tool to assess the perception and barriers to electronic handover systems among nurses working at SBAHC and evaluate its psychometric properties. Methods: The tool content and face validity were assessed by the content validity ratio (CVR). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used as validity methods, while the test-retest and inter-item consistency were used as reliability measures. The sample size was planned as five times the number of questions and a total of 200 nurses participated in the study. Results: The criteria required for factor analysis were met as indicated by the results of the Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin test and Bartlett’s test of sphericity. The reliability results showed a Cronbach's alpha coefficient ranging from 0.858 to 0.910 for the perception subscale and from 0.564 to 0.789 for the barrier subscale, and an overall interclass correlation of 0.986, p<0.001. Conclusions: The developed SBAHC electronic handover tool was valid and reliable, and it is advisable to consider it at the initial stages of implanting an electronic handover system to identify obstacles that are faced by the staff to be considered and addressed by the higher management.