Abstract
PURPOSE
To estimate the interrater agreement of the Lunney Scoring Method, a 7-point scale (from −1 to +5) to measure accuracy of nursing diagnoses.
METHODS
This descriptive-exploratory study with two raters applied the scale to 388 nursing diagnoses identified by 89 nurses and nursing students. Proportion of agreements and frequencies of score differences between raters were calculated. Cohen's Kappa was computed excluding 3 ratings of −1 assigned by only one of the raters.
FINDINGS
Raters agreed on 235 (61%) of the nursing diagnoses. The frequencies of score differences between raters were 1 point on 101 (21%) nursing diagnoses, 2 points on 11 (3%), and 3 points on 41 (11%). Kappa's coefficient was 0.51 (p<0.001).
DISCUSSION
There was acceptable agreement between raters using the Lunney Scoring Method. The proportion of score differences between raters can be interpreted as the magnitude of the disagreements, and revealed that differences of 3 points occurred in only 41 (11%) of the ratings.
CONCLUSIONS
Accuracy of nursing diagnosis is a matter of concern for practice, research, and teaching in nursing. The development, use, and refinement of instruments on nursing diagnosis accuracy would increase credibility for nursing diagnosis research. The application of such instruments in teaching and practice could facilitate sharing experiences between novices and expert diagnosticians. This study was carried out with a Portuguese (Brazil)-speaking sample. Transcultural research on nursing diagnosis accuracy should be conducted to identify relevant cultural differences on diagnostic concepts. Such results could improve the international dialogue on nursing diagnostic concepts.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.