Highlights
- •Paediatric patients admitted to hospital wards are at risk of deterioration.
- •Nurses' attitudes and practices towards paediatric vital signs monitoring can vary.
- •The Ped-V scale was developed by adapting the V-scale to the paediatric context.
- •The Ped-V scale is valid and reliable for use in the paediatric hospital context.
Abstract
Purpose
To develop and psychometrically test an instrument measuring the attitudes and practices
towards vital signs (VS) monitoring in nurses caring for children on paediatric wards
(Ped-V scale).
Design and methods
This is a multicentre cross-validation study with a cross-sectional design. The Ped-V
scale was developed by adapting the V-scale to the paediatric context and administered
to a convenience sample of clinical nurses working in paediatric wards from January
to May 2020. The content validity of the Ped-V scale was evaluated by a group of 10
experts. The psychometric properties of the scale were tested through Exploratory
Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).
Results
Overall, 10 Italian hospitals participated in the study, and 640 questionnaires were
completed (87% female). At EFA a 30-item version of the scale and four factors emerged.
This solution was confirmed at CFA: F1) ‘Inaccuracy of VS monitoring and workload’;
F2) ‘Clinical competence and communication’; F3) ‘Standardization and protocol adherence’;
F4) ‘Misconceptions about key indicators’. Cronbach's alpha ranged between 0.63 and
0.85.
Conclusions
The Ped-V scale is valid and reliable for use in the paediatric context to identify
barriers concerning nurses' self-efficacy, competences, and knowledge of clinical
indicators of paediatric critical deterioration, attitudes towards accuracy, standardization,
communication to senior team members and the appropriate use of technology in paediatric
VS monitoring.
Practice implications
The Ped-V scale may assist in identifying gaps in nurses' attitudes and devising strategies
to change nurses' beliefs, knowledge, skills and decreasing individual, local cultural
or organizational barriers towards VS monitoring.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 09, 2022
Accepted:
March 21,
2022
Received in revised form:
February 15,
2022
Received:
November 29,
2021
Identification
Copyright
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