Modified Fresno Test - Acute care nursing

Abstract

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Few objective measures of evidence-based practice (EBP) knowledge/skill exist.&nbsp; The Fresno Test, one objective method, has only been validated with medicine, physical/ occupational/speech therapy, pediatric nursing and students.</p> <p><strong>Aim: </strong>The Fresno Test was adapted and tested with cohorts of acute care nurses. Six of 14 items required revision to achieve acceptable psychometrics.&nbsp; The aim of this second validation study was to revise and validate a new version of the test to determine if it could distinguish EBP knowledge/skills among acute care nurses.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> An expert panel engaged in multiple Delphi rounds to revise items. Individual-content validity indices (CVI) ranged from 0.83-1.0, with scale-CVI 0.92.&nbsp; Using a cohort design, a cross-sectional sample of 90 novice, master and expert nurses were recruited via national listservs or snowball sampling to complete the revised test.&nbsp; Potential participants were emailed an informational flyer about the purpose of the study and a link to the test created in web-survey software. Two doctorally prepared EBP experts independently scored tests using the standardized rubric.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> The Modified Fresno Test-Acute Care Nursing yielded strong psychometric properties (intra-class correlation coefficients&gt;0.80; item discrimination indices&gt;0.20; item-total correlations&gt;0.30).&nbsp; One poorly performing item was dropped.&nbsp; The final test includes 13 items, with a Cronbach 0.76.&nbsp; Item difficulty was moderate to high.&nbsp; Most items discriminated well between cohorts.&nbsp; Mean total scores were positively correlated with age, years since graduation, years acute care experience, and formal EBP or research workshops/conferences, courses or immersions.&nbsp; Perceived level of EBP expertise was not associated with mean scores.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The validated 13-item Modified Fresno Exam-Acute Care Nursing can be used to evaluate EBP competencies of acute care nurses in academic and practice settings.&nbsp; It can also be used by nurse scientists to build a stronger evidence base on types of educational programs that excel in advancing the critical competency of EBP among our nursing work force.</p> <p>The test is best administered through web-based software.&nbsp; Instructions for scoring the tests are included in its accompanying rubric.&nbsp; The tests is in the public domain and thus, individuals may use the tool without permission.&nbsp; The author does request an email communication to margohalm@gmail.com describing how the tool will be utilized to assist in understanding how individuals and organizations are finding value in the tool within various settings.&nbsp; No modifications to the test items or scoring rubric are advised as changes would alter the psychometric properties of the test.&nbsp; The manuscript describing the test's psychometrics is currently under review for publication.</p>