The cross-cultural adaptation of the Belgium Nursing Minimum Data Set to Finnish nursing

Abstract

Background Nursing has been invisible in most of the international and national healthcare information systems and databases; also in Finland. The use of nursing minimum data set could be one solution to this problem. It is an information system that collects, stores, processes, retrieves, displays and communicates timely information about nursing practice needed for a variety of users and purposes. Objectives To test the cultural applicability of the Belgian Nursing Minimum Data Set (BeNMDS) to Finnish nursing. Methods The study design was methodological. It included testing of the validity, reliability and sensitivity of the BeNMDS. Content validity was tested using content analysis of the Finnish nursing doctorate dissertations, Katie Eriksson's publications of her Nursing Process Model and focus-group interviews of the healthcare administrators. Reliability, construct validity and sensitivity were tested using the data collected with the BeNMDS-tool from patients' nursing notes in Finnish Hospitals. Findings The validity, reliability and sensitivity of the BeNMDS in Finland were mainly good. The study showed, however, that the interventions to describe the patient's spiritual well-being, were missing and the psycho-social care interventions were insufficient in the data set. Conclusion The Finnish version of the BeNMDS has been shown to be valid, reliable and sensitive and applicable to describe nursing practice in Finland. Should the interventions to describe patient's spiritual and psycho-social well-being be included in the data set, Finnish nursing will have a valuable tool available to make nursing visible for the healthcare information systems and databases.