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Separate Scales (separate + scale)
Selected AbstractsMeasuring the quality of clinical audit projectsJOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 4 2000Andrew D. Millard MSc Abstract The aim of the study was to develop and pilot a scale measuring the quality of audit projects through audit project reports. Statements about clinical audit projects were selected from existing instruments assessing the quality of clinical audit projects to form a Likert scale. Audit facilitators based in Scottish health boards and trusts piloted the scale. The participants were known to have over 2 years of experience of supporting clinical audit. The response at first test was 11 of 14 and at the second test 27 of 46. Audit facilitators tested the draft scale by expressing their strength of agreement or disagreement with each statement for three reports. Validity and reliability were assessed by test , re-test, item , total, and total , global indicator correlation. Of the 20 statements, 15 had satisfactory correlation with scale totals. Scale totals had good correlation with global indicators. Test , re-test correlation was modest. The wide range of responses means further research is needed to measure the consistency of audit facilitators' interpretations, perhaps comparing a trained group with an untrained group. There may be a need for a separate scale for reaudits. Educational impact is distinct from project impact generally. It may be more meaningful to treat the selection of projects and aims, methodology and impact separately as subscales and take a project profiling approach rather than attempting to produce a global quality index. [source] Development of a Self-Report Instrument to Measure Patient Safety Attitudes, Skills, and KnowledgeJOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 4 2008Rebecca Schnall Purpose: To describe the development and psychometric testing of the Patient Safety Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge Scale (PS-ASK). Methods: Content validity of a 35-item instrument was established by a panel of experts. The instrument was pilot tested on 285 nursing students. Principal components analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was conducted, and Cronbach's alphas were examined. Paired samples t-tests were used to show responsiveness of the scales pre- and post-patient safety curriculum. Results: The final instrument consists of 26 items and three separate scales: attitudes, skills, and knowledge. The attitudes and skills scales each had a three-factor solution. The knowledge items had a one-factor solution. Both skills and knowledge were significantly increased at Time 2 (p<0.001). Conclusions: The skills and knowledge subscales had satisfactory internal consistency reliability, evidence for construct validity, and responsiveness for use as independent scales in future studies. The attitudes subscale needs further refinement before implementation. Comparison with other measures of patient safety skills (e.g., observation) and knowledge are warranted. Clinical Relevance: A tool to measure clinicians' attitudes, skills, and knowledge about patient safety might be useful to evaluate nurses and other clinicians during educational preparation and in practice. [source] Impact of item-writing flaws in multiple-choice questions on student achievement in high-stakes nursing assessmentsMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 2 2008Marie Tarrant Context, Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are frequently used to assess students in health science disciplines. However, few educators have formal instruction in writing MCQs and MCQ items often have item-writing flaws. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of item-writing flaws on student achievement in high-stakes assessments in a nursing programme in an English-language university in Hong Kong. Methods, From a larger sample, we selected 10 summative test papers that were administered to undergraduate nursing students in 1 nursing department. All test items were reviewed for item-writing flaws by a 4-person consensus panel. Items were classified as ,flawed' if they contained , 1 flaw. Items not containing item-writing violations were classified as ,standard'. For each paper, 2 separate scales were computed: a total scale which reflected the characteristics of the assessment as administered and a standard scale which reflected the characteristics of a hypothetical assessment including only unflawed items. Results, The proportion of flawed items on the 10 test papers ranged from 28,75%; 47.3% of all items were flawed. Fewer examinees passed the standard scale than the total scale (748 [90.6%] versus 779 [94.3%]). Conversely, the proportion of examinees obtaining a score , 80% was higher on the standard scale than the total scale (173 [20.9%] versus 120 [14.5%]). Conclusions, Flawed MCQ items were common in high-stakes nursing assessments but did not disadvantage borderline students, as has been previously demonstrated. Conversely, high-achieving students were more likely than borderline students to be penalised by flawed items. [source] A double blind randomized placebo control trial of levetiracetam in tourette syndromeMOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 12 2007Constance L. Smith-Hicks MD Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of levetiracetam for the treatment of tics in children with Tourette syndrome (TS). Levetiracetam, an atypical anticonvulsant, has been suggested in open-label protocols to be an effective tic-suppressing agent in individuals with TS. A double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial was performed to investigate this medication in children with moderate to moderately-severe tics. Subjects received, in a randomized sequence, 4-weeks of levetiracetam (maximum dose 30 mg/kg/day) or placebo, with a 2-week intervening washout period between cycles. Primary outcome measures included two separate scales from the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale; the Total Tic score and the Total overall score. Measures were assessed at baseline, prior to randomization, on Day 28 (end of Phase 1), on Day 42 (baseline for second phase) and on Day 70 (end of Phase 2). Twenty-two subjects (21 boys and 1 girl) with TS, mean age 12.2 ± 2.3 years, range 8 to 16 years, participated. A mild reduction in tics occurred during both the levetiracetam and placebo treatment phases. There was no significant difference between treatments and no evidence of sequence or cross-over effects. In conclusion, Levetiracetam is not more beneficial than placebo in suppressing tics in children with TS. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society [source] | ||||||||||