Development and psychometric evaluation of the basic electrocardiogram interpretation self-efficacy scale

Purpose: Research suggests that nurses and nursing students lack competence in basic electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation. Self-efficacy is considered to be paramount in the development of one's competence. The aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate a scale to assess self-efficacy of nursing students in basic ECG interpretation. Materials and methods: Observational cross-sectional study with a convenience sample of 293 nursing students. The basic ECG interpretation self-efficacy scale (ECG-SES) was developed and psychometrically tested in terms of reliability (internal consistency and temporal stability) and validity (content, criterion and construct). The ECG-SES’ internal consistency was explored by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α); its temporal stability was investigated by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between the participants’ results on a test–retest separated by a 4-week interval. The content validity index of the items (I-CVI) and the scale (S-CVI) was calculated based on the reviews of a panel of 16 experts. Criterion validity was explored by correlating the participants’ results on the ECG-SES with their results on the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (NGSE). 1 Construct validity was investigated by performing Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and known-group analysis. Results: The excellent reliability of the ECG-SES was evidenced by its internal consistency (α = 0.98) and its temporal stability at the 4-week re-test (r = 0.81; p < 0.01). The ECG-SES’ content validity was also excellent (all items’ I-CVI = 0.94–1; S-CVI = 0.99). A strong, significant correlation between the NGSE and the ECG-SES (r = 0.70; p < 0.01) showed its criterion validity. Corroborating the ECG-SES’ construct validity, PCA revealed that all its items loaded on a single factor that explained 74.6% of the total variance found. Furthermore, known-groups analysis showed the ECG-SES’ ability to detect expected differences in self-efficacy between groups with different training experiences (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The ECG-SES showed excellent psychometric properties for measuring the self-efficacy of nursing students in basic ECG interpretation.

Self-medication on the students of the school of health from Polytechnic Institute of Bragança

The self-medicatíon is a phenomenon more and more frequent and used for several years already, and tts incidence and dlstribution are related wtth the organizatíon and health system of each country. Following Medeiros thoughts (2011), this practíce conststs in the consumptíon of a medicine with the purpose of treating or relieving the symptoms and diseases or even promote self health, without using a professional prescription. Methods: With thts study, we intend to find the self-medication practice incidence on the students in the School of Health of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (ESSa), identify the motives that lead these students to resort to this methods and identify the most used medicatíons. lt's a transversal descriptive, observational and quantítative study. To obtain the best results it was applied a questíonnaire built for that purpose. The statístícs analyses was made using Excel program. Our sample hás 219 students of the School of Health from Polytechntc Instítute of Bragança. Results: The studied sample includes 194 female and 25 male students distributed as follows: 36 frequenting Biomedical Laboratory Sdences, 26 Dietetics and Nutrition, 99 Nursing, 33 Gerontology and 22 studying Pharmacy. The self-medicatíon prevalence was 98%. The most used medicines was the analgesics and antipyretics with 86%. The most prevalent reason for the use of self-medicatíon was the thought that the disease was a "minor health issue". It was also considered a risky practice by 77% of the students. Conclusions: The self-medication is an evident practíce on the ESSa students. This results reveal some contradiction stnce the most consider 1t as a risky practíce, however it is, stíll, practíced.