Valid and Reliable Tools

For this Discussion, you consider survey instruments that would be appropriate to use in specific situations.

The following scenarios will be used for this week’s Discussion:

• Scenario 1: A large hospital intends to implement a computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system. In order to get a good idea of its effects, the hospital’s leadership has asked for an evaluation of the CPOE system’s impact 90 days after its initial implementation.

• Scenario 2: Years ago, the primary hospital for a large, rural county distributed personal data assistants (PDAs) to all of its physicians in an attempt to modernize. After looking at many other more up-to-date mobile systems, physicians and hospital leaders are curious about how their current PDA-based system performs.

• Scenario 3: The informatics department of one of North America’s largest hospitals is conducting an internal review of its health information technology systems. This review will evaluate the need for any changes to its systems and may serve as justification for different budgetary allocations. Because of its sheer size and the number of personnel it affects, the hospital’s electronic health record system will be a pivotal point of the review.

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources on reliability and validity.
• Review the AHRQ Evaluation Survey Compendium.
• Review the scenarios presented above.
• Using the “Locate a Survey for your Project” tool available on the AHRQ website, identify a survey tool that would be appropriate for use for each scenario.
• Reflect on the specific characteristics of a valid, reliable survey tool.

By Day 3

Post the unique survey tool you identified for each scenario and a justification for your selections.