Construction and validation of an instrument for assessment of the nursing diagnosis, risk for infection, in patients following cardiac surgery

Purpose: To construct and validate a data collection instrument (DCI), and a corresponding instructional guide, for assessment of the nursing diagnosis, risk for infection, in patients following cardiac surgery.

Methods: Construction of conceptual and operational definitions for risk factors based on literature, content validation by experts, and clinical validation by clinical nurses.

Findings: There were significant internal consistency and reproducibility in the content validation. In the clinical validation, agreement among nurses was higher than 70% for all risk factors.

Conclusions: The DCI was constructed and validated.

Implications for nursing practice: This DCI could be used for assessment of adult patients after cardiac surgeries worldwide because of its detailed cues for risk factors, which facilitate clinical reasoning and diagnostic judgment.