Development of competency inventory for registered nurses in the People's Republic of China: scale development.

BACKGROUND: Literature review indicated there is no existing nursing competency framework or instrument for Chinese registered nurses. By virtue of its global leadership role in nursing, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) developed an ICN Framework of Competencies for the Generalist Nurses in 2003. On the basis of the ICN's framework, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the expectations of Chinese nurse professionals on nursing competency in the previous study. A competency framework for Chinese registered nurses was formed. This paper describes the development and testing of the Competency Inventory for Registered Nurses (CIRN).

METHODS: A methodological study design was used, consisting of two phases with six steps. A review of literature generated 112 items, which were evaluated by six experts followed by field testing in a purposive sample of 815 Chinese clinical registered nurses. Factor analysis and item analysis were applied to establish the scale's construct validity and reliability.

RESULTS: The final scale consists of seven dimensions with 58 items. The overall scale reliability had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.89; the dimensions Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.79 to 0.86. In addition, evidence for two other kinds of validity was obtained, which included criterion-related validity (r=0.44, p=0.04) and contrasted-group validity (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION: The CIRN has demonstrated evidence of internal consistency reliability, content validity, and construct validity, and it provides an objective tool for assessing registered nurse competencies in the various areas of clinical practice.