Evaluation of computerized nursing care plan: Instrument development

With the increasingly popular use of information technology in patient care, the need for reliable instrumentation to evaluate information systems has become critical. This article describes the psychometric testing of a scale developed to evaluate a computerized nursing care plan (CNCP) system. A review of the literature generated a 44-item questionnaire, which was then administered to a convenience sample of 729 hospital nurses in Taiwan. Factor analysis (principal component analysis with varimax rotation) and item analysis were applied to establish the scale's construct validity and reliability. Twenty-two items selected from the original 44-item pool were grouped into 6 major constructs: patient care, nursing efficiency, professionalism, usage benefit, education and training, and usability. The α coefficient was 0.85. The statistical results showed that nurses generally valued using the CNCP system. Further psychometric analysis of the scale is suggested in other nursing populations, for subscale development and to refine item wording.