Psychometric Testing of the Veterans Health Administration Resident Competency Assessment Scale for New Graduate Registered Nurse Competency.

BACKGROUND

The Veterans Health Administration Resident Competency Assessment (VHA RCA) item pool (N = 100) was developed to evaluate new graduate registered nurse (NGRN) competency to support nurse residencies and facilitate dynamic competency-based education.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to develop a parsimonious item bank for the VHA RCA through psychometric testing.

METHODS

Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory methods were used to analyze VHA RCA survey data from nurse residents (N = 542) at VHA medical centers (n = 81).

RESULTS

Psychometric evidence demonstrated a unidimensional construct, good model fit, negligible differential item functioning, and acceptable construct validity. Seventy items were retained. Reliability coefficient estimates were > 0.9 (Cronbach's α = .987; Lambda-2 = .987; latent class reliability coefficient = .986).

CONCLUSIONS

Obtained psychometric evidence supports validity and reliability of the calibrated VHA RCA. The VHA RCA is available for public use to assess NGRN competency and may be used to inform and improve the quality of nursing education, research, and practice.