Development and psychometric testing of the EverCare Nurse Practitioner Role and Activity Scale (ENPRAS).

PURPOSE

To develop and test an instrument measuring the frequency of the performance of role activities by EverCare nurse practitioners (NPs), who provide primary care to nursing home residents.

DATA SOURCES

One hundred thirty-one EverCare Nurse Practitioner Role and Activity Scale (ENPRAS) activities were identified through telephone interviews (n= 11), participant observation (n= 5), and a focus group (n= 4).

CONCLUSIONS

Two content validity tests (n= 11; n= 15) (Content Validity Index > or = .78 for all retained items) and internal consistency reliability testing (n= 127; Cronbach's alpha = .78-.96) yielded 99 activities arranged in six role subscales-Collaborator, Clinician, Care Manager/Coordinator, Counselor, Communicator/Cheerleader, and Coach/Educator.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The ENPRAS can be used to measure similarities and differences in NP practice activities performed by EverCare NPs working at different EverCare program sites and to compare practice activities performed by EverCare NPs and other NPs. The EverCare program is sponsored by United Health Care, which leads the field in collaborative NP/MD primary care in nursing homes. Future studies should be directed toward testing the generalizability of the ENPRAS with NPs working in other collaborative models, as well as NPs in noncollaborative models of care delivery in the long-term care setting.