Reliability of a ‘Communication Chart’ for Conscious Patients on Mechanical Ventilator or Tracheostomy Admitted in Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Referral Center, India

Abstract

Effective communication is a part of quality nursing practices. Communication is a significant concern for such patients who are not able to speak due to intubation. Nurses are in an ideal position to facilitate nonvocal patients’ abilities to communicate. Interpersonal relations between the patient and the nurse are affected when reciprocal communication is not effectively utilised. The present study was conducted with an objective to estimate the validity and reliability of such a chart developed by the investigators. The process of developing the ‘Communication Chart’ involved the Delphi technique, which was divided into various phases. During the first phase, a rigorous review of literature related to instrument construction and standardisation of tool was done. This was followed by the generation of Draft 1 of the item pool of ‘Preliminary Communication Chart’. The second phase was validation phase. The purpose of this phase was to check the face validity and content validity of the ‘Preliminary Communication Chart’ Draft 1. The third phase was followed by the pilot study in which the first try-out of the tool was done on patients admitted in selective intensive care units. In the final phase, the final draft ‘Communication Chart’ was administered to 20 patients on mechanical ventilator or tracheostomy. The reliability of ‘Communication Chart’ as assessed by Cronbach alpha coefficient (unstandardised) was 0.75. It indicated the reliability and internal consistency of the tool. The ‘Communication Chart’ was found to be valid and reliable.