Page 294 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

InTeRnaTIonaL CLaSSIFICaTIon FoR nURSInG PRaCTICe n 261

This testing results in a quantitative exam- data can be reused for many purposes,
ination of reliability and validity measures including communication, clinical decision-
(see “reliability” and “validity”). support, knowledge generation, and policy I
Instrument revision for self-report mea- making. The International Classification
sures includes a critical examination of test- for nursing Practice (ICnP®), a program of
ing results and individual items. options for the International Council of nurses (ICn),
items are (a) inclusion as is, (b) alteration to is a standardized terminology designed to
clarify or meet theory, and (c) elimination. represent nursing diagnoses, interventions,
once the instrument has been revised, it and outcomes. To represent nursing prac-
must be tested again with another sample tice worldwide, the ICnP needs to be broad
from the target population. enough to capture the domain of nursing
Instrumentation for laboratory measures practice globally and sensitive enough to
involves similar phases of development and represent the diversity of nursing practice
testing. However, the development phase across countries and cultures. To be specific,
typically focuses on the establishment of pro- the ICnP must be:
cedures for use of the device. Testing evalu-
ates the precision, accuracy, and sensitivity of • broad enough to serve the multiple pur-
the device, given the procedures established. poses required by different countries;
examinations of precision must include cal- • simple enough to be seen by the ordinary
ibration of the device and evaluation for practitioner of nursing as a meaningful
inconsistency in readings, given repetitive description of practice and a useful means
use. assessment for accuracy includes not of structuring practice;
only the meeting of established standards, • consistent with clearly defined conceptual
but appraisal of appropriate theoretical spec- frameworks but not dependent on a par-
ification of measurements to the concept of ticular theoretical framework or model of
interest. The sensitivity of the device is very nursing;
related to the accuracy but requires testing • based on a central core to which additions
the device measurements in known change can be made through a continuing process
states or across a spectrum of different lev- of development and refinement;
els. Revisions of procedures may be needed • sensitive to cultural variability;
when the results of testing do not meet estab- • reflective of the common value system of
lished standards for precision and accuracy. nursing across the world as expressed in
the ICn Code for nurses; and
Joyce A. Verran • usable in a complementary or inte-
Paula M. Meek grated way with the family of classifica-
tions developed within the World Health
organization, the core of which is the
International Classification of Diseases (ICn,
2009).
InternatIonal
classIfIcatIon for nursIng ICn, a federation of 135 national nurses
associations, has provided an infrastructure
PractIce to enhance the development of an ICnP.
acknowledging that there was no interna-
tional terminology to describe nursing’s con-
Use of standardized terminologies can sup- tribution to health, the ICn approved the
port the electronic capture of clinical data resolution that launched the ICnP project
by nurses at the point of care delivery. These in 1989. The ICnP Program has facilitated