Tool Development and Testing: An Objective Measurement of Medication Administration Competency

Nurses are largely responsible for the safety of medication administration when providing direct patient care. Educators require objective tools to assess and evaluate medication administration skills. Thus, the Objective Medication Administration Tool (OMAT©) was created. The development of the OMAT was guided by standards, evidence, and the competency outcomes and performance assessment theoretical model. Thirteen experts assessed the OMAT for content validity. Item content validity indexes ranged .89 to 1.0. Scale content validity average was .98. Interrater reliability was established among five trained raters. Cohen kappa values ranged .89 to .98. Findings provide preliminary support for the validity and reliability of the OMAT.