Research Oral Abstract Award Winner
The Ramsay Scale: Limited Interrater Reliability
Olson D, Lynn M, Thoyre S, Graffagnino C. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC.
Purpose: To test the interrater reliability of the Ramsay scale (RS) in a heterogeneous group of critical care nurses. Background/Significance: Despite the lack of instrument development over the past 32 years, the RS has become entrenched as the cornerstone of sedation assessment. Methods: IRB approval was obtained for both phases of this study. Phase I consisted of producing a series of short sedation assessment videos that were scored by a panel of experts. Nurse-subject recruitment began after 100% agreement was reached on 6 videos that represented the 6 levels of Ramsay. Block randomization assigned nurses to score a video using each of 3 different sedation scales (RS, Sedation-Agitation Scale, and Global Sedation...
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