Development of an assessment instrument to evaluate performance of the skill of decontamination

• Few reliable and valid instruments are available to assess disaster competencies.
• Assessing competency is needed to ensure safe, quality care in disasters.
• A seven step process was used to develop a decontamination performance checklist.

SummaryBackground and PurposeNurses must competently demonstrate psychomotor skills. Few reliable and valid instruments are available for psychomotor evaluation for disaster skills, including the skill of decontamination.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to develop and refine an instrument to measure the skill of decontamination.DesignA seven step instrument development design was implemented that included content validity and reliability as well as inter-rater reliability analysis.Setting and ParticipantsA convenience sample of approximately 140 participants was drawn from two colleges of nursing at two large academic universities. The sample included senior nursing students in either their community or final practicum nursing course.MethodsBased on a sample of 140 students who participated in a decontamination training experience using virtual reality simulation, a seven step established process for assessment of reliability and validity was implemented to develop a checklist for the skill of decontamination.ResultsThe final instrument statistics: Content Validity Index for the overall instrument score was 0.94, Internal consistency coefficient = 0.607(KR-20) and Inter-rater reliability = 0.9114.ConclusionsThis instrument provides a reliable and valid assessment of nurses' competency in performing the skill of decontamination offering a template for educators to develop similar tools.