The German translation of the Perme Intensive Care Unit Mobility Score and inter-rater reliability between physiotherapists and nurses

Abstract

Purpose: Patients in intensive care units (ICU)] are routinely mobilised by physiotherapists (PT) and registered nurses (RN), requiring multi-professional assessments. The Perme ICU Mobility Score (Perme Score) is a comprehensive tool to specifically describe the mobility status of patients in ICU. The aim of the study was to translate the Perme Score into German language and investigate the inter-rater reliability between PT and RN.Methods: Prospective, observational study for reporting reliability between PT and RN. The Perme Score was translated from English to the German language in a regularised translation process. PT and RN assessed patients independently in a cardio-vascular ICU (CVICU). Inter-rater reliability was calculated by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI).Results: The ICC for overall inter-rater reliability was 0.962 (95% CI: 0.934–0.978) in the assessment of 58 patients. Only two items were assessed with an ICC less than 0.8: ability to follow commands (0.738, 95% CI: 0.556–0.898) and pain (0.462, 95% CI: 0.099–0.680). Two items were constant variables (lines and infusions).Conclusions: The German version of the Perme Score presented a high inter-rater reliability between PT and RN in CVICU and is an inter-professional tool to assess the mobility status of patients in CVICU.