Development and Psychometric Testing of the Provider Co-Management Index: Measuring Nurse Practitioner-Physician Co-Management

J Nurs Meas. 2018 Dec;26(3):E127-E141. doi: 10.1891/1061-3749.26.3.E127.

Abstract

Background and purpose: Provider co-management has emerged in practice to alleviate demands of larger, more complex patient panels, yet no tools exist to measure nurse practitioner (NP)-physician co-management. The purpose of this study is to develop a tool that measures NP-physician co-management.

Methods: Items were generated based on three theoretical dimensions of co-management. Face and content validity were established with six experts. Pilot testing was conducted with a convenience sample of 40 NPs and physicians. We computed mean, standard deviation, skewness, interitem and corrected item-total correlations, and Cronbach's alpha.

Results: Psychometric analysis yielded high subscale reliability: effective communication (α = .811); mutual respect and trust (α = .746); and shared philosophy of care (α = .779).

Conclusions: PCMI demonstrates strong internal reliability consistency. Future research to examine construct validity is recommended.

Keywords: care delivery; nurse practitioners; primary care; tool development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nurse Practitioners*
  • Patient Care Team*
  • Physician-Nurse Relations*
  • Physicians*
  • Psychometrics*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Surveys and Questionnaires