Reliability of length measurements in full-term neonates.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and compare the intra- and interexaminer reliability of four techniques for measuring length in full-term newborns and to determine whether the different techniques yield significantly different measurements.


METHODS
A descriptive study, describing the intra- and interexaminer reliability of four length measurement techniques: crown-heel, supine, paper barrier, and Neo-infantometer. The nurses were blind to their own and to the other nurse's measurements. The order of the nurses and the order in which the measurements were obtained was randomized.


METHODS
Mothers' rooms in a university hospital.


METHODS
Thirty-two healthy full-term newborns.


METHODS
Length measurements using four different length techniques were obtained twice each by two experienced neonatal nurses.


METHODS
To measure the intra- and interexaminer reliability, the following statistics were calculated: mean absolute differences, standard deviations, technical error of measurement; percentage less than .5 and 1.0 cm, and percentage of error.


RESULTS
Intra- and interexaminer differences were significantly larger when examiners used the crown-heel measurement technique. Although the intra- and interexaminer reliability of length measurements obtained with the supine, paper barrier, and Neo-infantometer techniques did not differ significantly, the amount of error in these measurements was large.


CONCLUSIONS
Measurements obtained using the crown-heel technique are significantly less reliable than measurements obtained using the supine, paper barrier, or Neo-infantometer techniques.
Johnson
T S
TS
Department of Maternal-Child Nursing, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 60612, USA.
Engstrom
J L
JL
Warda
J A
JA
Kabat
M
M
Peters
B
B
D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods; D001827:Body Height; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015146:Midwestern United States; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results