Psychometric evaluation of pharmacology calculation test for hospital staff nurses.

Based on our evaluation, we believe this newly developed test is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring nurses' competence in performing pharmacological calculations. The overall conclusion that this test is reliable and valid is strengthened by the use of various different measures of both reliability and validity. Following completion of this evaluation study, we began to use this test with all newly hired nursing staff. We arbitrarily chose a cut-off score of 80 percent as the passing score. Individuals who could not pass on their first attempt were offered remediation and then allowed a second attempt. During the first three months of use, we tested 25 newly hired nurses. Of those, 20 were able to pass the pharmacological calculations test on their first or second attempt, with a mean score of 88.7. The score on the second attempt of the five who failed (all LPNs) was 53.0. These individuals were not allowed to actually work as nurses at our hospital. We have subsequently changed the policy to allow three attempts, using the three parallel versions of the test. Remediation is offered after the second failed attempt. This approach has reduced the time needed by the education department to remediate, but meets nursing managers' desire and need to help those who can succeed and become competent members of our staff. The test has not been in use at our institution for over two years and is administered to all nurses who provide patient care in our institution (including agency/travel nurses). It has been generally well received and we area convinced that it can accurately measure nurses' pharmacological calculation competence.