Relationship of embodied nursing knowledge and client outcomes in home health

A hybrid systematic narrative review of instruments measuring home-based care nurses' competency

AIM

The aim of the study was to identify and synthesize the contents and the psychometric properties of the existing instruments measuring home-based care (HBC) nurses' competencies.

DESIGN

A hybrid systematic narrative review was performed.

REVIEW METHODS

The eligible studies were reviewed to identify the competencies measured by the instruments for HBC nurses. The psychometric properties of instruments in development and psychometric testing design studies were also examined. The methodological quality of the studies was evaluated using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument and COSMIN checklist accordingly.

DATA SOURCES

Relevant studies were searched on CINAHL, MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, PsychINFO and Scopus from 2000 to 2022. The search was limited to full-text items in the English language.

RESULTS

A total of 23 studies reporting 24 instruments were included. 12 instruments were adopted or modified by the studies while the other 12 were developed and psychometrically tested by the studies. None of the instruments encompassed all of the 10 home-based nursing care competencies identified in an earlier study. The two most frequently measured competencies were the management of health conditions, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills, while the two least measured competencies were quality and safety, and technological literacy. The content and structural validity of most instruments were inadequate since the adopted instruments were not initially designed or tested among HBC nurses.

CONCLUSION

This review provides a consolidation of existing instruments that were used to assess HBC nurses' competencies. The instruments were generally not comprehensive, and the content and structural validity were limited. Nonetheless, the domains, items and approaches to instrument development could be adopted to develop and test a comprehensive competency instrument for home-based nursing care practice in the future.

IMPACT

This review consolidated instruments used to measure home-based care nurses' competency. The instruments were often designed for ward-based care nurses hence a comprehensive and validated home-based nursing care competency instrument is needed. Nurses, researchers and nursing leaders could consider the competency instruments identified in this review to measure nurses' competencies, while a home-based nursing care competency scale is being developed.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patient or public contribution was required in this review.

Exploring the thinking, reasoning and clinical approach of expert child psychiatric nurses

BACKGROUND

Expert nurses are characterized by their deep knowledge of patient situations and understanding of patients in the context of their total situation. We know of no studies that have focused on the expert practice of child/adolescent (C/A) psychiatric mental health (PMH) advanced practice nurse.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to gather information on how expert C/A advanced practice psychiatric nurses (APPNs) view their role and assess/treat children and adolescents with complex mental health issues.

METHOD

Expert C/A APPNs were interviewed by one of the two investigators using a semi-structured interview guide. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. This was a qualitative descriptive study and in line with that method, interview content was open-coded and examined for themes that were collapsed into categories.

RESULTS

Fifteen C/A PMH APPNs were interviewed. Initial categories that were distilled included descriptions of their commitment to the population, development of families as partners, an expanded approach to medication management, and how they demonstrate expertise.

CONCLUSION

Expert nurses adopt an invaluable approach to children and families-inherently patient and family-centered. They view the child/teen in terms of the multiple contexts of their lives.