Construction and validation of an instrument for assessment of the nursing diagnosis, risk for infection, in patients following cardiac surgery

To construct and validate a data collection instrument (DCI), and a corresponding instructional guide, for assessment of the nursing diagnosis, risk for infection, in patients following cardiac surgery.Construction of conceptual and operational definitions for risk factors based on literature, content validation by experts, and clinical validation by clinical nurses.There were significant internal consistency and reproducibility in the content validation. In the clinical validation, agreement among nurses was higher than 70% for all risk factors.The DCI was constructed and validated.This DCI could be used for assessment of adult patients after cardiac surgeries worldwide because of its detailed cues for risk factors, which facilitate clinical reasoning and diagnostic judgment.