Development and psychometric test of core competency assessment scale for gastrointestinal endoscopy nurses

Digestive endoscopy nurses play a pivotal role in contemporary medical settings marked by advancing endoscopic technologies and increasing complexity. Nonetheless, there exists a deficiency in tools tailored for the effective evaluation of their essential competencies. Thus, there is an imperative to develop, validate, and evaluate the reliability and validity of a dedicated assessment scale for this purpose. Guided by role theory and core competency principles, we constructed a scale through literature analysis, semi-structured interviews, and expert consultations. An initial survey involving 413 digestive endoscopy nurses was conducted for item analysis and selection to refine the scale. Subsequently, the scale's reliability and validity were assessed through a second survey involving 512 nurses, ensuring its robustness and applicability in clinical settings. The developed Core Competency Assessment Scale for Digestive Endoscopy Nurses consists of 41 items organized into 5 dimensions: Professional Attitude, Theoretical Knowledge, Practical Skills, Communication and Coordination Abilities, and Professional Development. Each item demonstrates strong discriminative validity. The cumulative variance explained by these factors is 77.59%. The scale exhibits a Cronbach α coefficient of 0.84 and a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.80. The content validity index at the item level ranges from 0.80 to 1, and at the scale level, it is 0.96. The Core Competency Assessment Scale for Digestive Endoscopy Nurses demonstrates robust reliability and validity, thereby establishing its suitability for evaluating their essential capabilities in clinical practice.