Valid and reliable instruments are essential to responsible and accurate diagnosis, planning, and evaluation by professional nurses working independently or collaboratively with other healthcare professionals. The author provides an overview of the instrument development process and emphasizes the importance of measurement as an intrinsic part of the clinical decision-making process. Discussion focuses attention on the differences between an index and a scale, both of which are needed as part of assessment protocols. Some differences in strategies required for estimating validity and reliability for scales and indexes are highlighted.
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Gail C. Davis (1994) studied this question.
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