Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation: reliability update.
BACKGROUND
The Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation is a 30-item scale designed in 1965 for behavioural and observational rating of psychiatric inpatients.


OBJECTIVE
This paper reports a re-evaluation of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation carried out to confirm that it remains reliable in a modern United Kingdom (UK) setting.


METHODS
The scale is a joint-rated one and we tested the degree of agreement between two individual raters and not, as in previous studies, between two pairs of raters. A total of 100 patients were each rated by two nurses, and a least-squares simple regression model was used to describe the average level of agreement between the pairs of ratings.


RESULTS
The correlation in total scale scores was 0.76 (F = 136, P < 0.0001). The correlations for Negative and Positive Factors were 0.68 (P < 0.001) and 0.75 (P < 0.001), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
This study has shown that the Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation retains satisfactory inter-rater reliability with current clinical populations, and we suggest that it remains a useful tool for everyday clinical practice and a basis for meaningful communication between staff about patient status.
Lyall
Dawn
D
Department of Psychiatry, QEII Hospital, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK.
Hawley
Chris
C
Scott
Kusam
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000592:standards*; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D006113:United Kingdom