Development of a scale to assess nurses' knowledge of stroke: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE To develop and test an evidence-based scale to assess nurses' knowledge of stroke. DESIGN Question development by a multidisciplinary group of experts in stroke. Two self-completion questionnaire surveys. SETTING Two stroke units, one general medical and two elderly care wards in three hospitals in the North-East of England. SUBJECTS Fifty-eight qualified nurses. INTERVENTIONS Scale to assess nurses' knowledge of stroke. RESULTS The overall response rate was 60%. Nurses on stroke units knew more about stroke than those in medical/elderly care wards. The scale was capable of discriminating between stroke units and medical /elderly care wards: mean difference was 4.18 (95% confidence intervals 1.68-6.69; p <0.001). Cronbach's alpha was 0.7 indicating adequate internal consistency. Item non-response did not exceed 10% for any question. CONCLUSIONS We have developed a knowledge of stroke scale capable of discriminating between nurses based in stroke units and medical/elderly care wards, with low item non-response and adequate internal consistency. The scale is suitable for use as a component of studies evaluating the nursing of stroke patients.