Use of the ICU Nurse–Physician Questionnaire (ICU N-P-Q): testing reliability and validity in neonatal intensive care units in Japan

OBJECTIVE: Although communication among health providers has become a critical part of improving quality of care, few studies on this topic have been conducted in Japan. This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Intensive Care Unit Nurse–Physician Questionnaire (ICU N-P-Q) for use among nurses and physicians in neonatal ICUs (NICUs) in Japan. METHODS: A Japanese translation of the ICU N-P-Q was administered to physicians and nurses working at 40 NICUs across Japan, which were participating in the Improvement of NICU Practice and Team Approach Cluster randomized controlled trial (INTACT). We used the principal components analysis to evaluate the factor structure of the instruments. Convergent validity was assessed by examining correlations between the subscales of Communication and Conflict Management of the ICU N-P-Q and the subscales and total score of the Nurse–Physician Collaboration Scale (NPCS). Correlations between the subscales of Communication and Conflict Management by correlation with scales that refer to performance, including Job Satisfaction and Unit Effectiveness, were calculated to test the criterion validity. RESULTS: In total, 2006 questionnaires were completed by 316 physicians and 1690 nurses. The exploratory factor analysis revealed 15 factors in the physicians' questionnaire and 12 in the nurses' questionnaire. Convergent validity was confirmed, except for ‘Between-group Accuracy’ and ‘Cooperativeness’ in the physicians' scale, and for ‘Between-group Accuracy’ and ‘Sharing of Patient Information’ in the nurses' scale. Correlations between the subscales of communication and outcomes were confirmed in the nurses' questionnaire but were not fully supported in the physicians' questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS: Although the psychometric property behaved somewhat differently by occupation, the present findings provide preliminary support for the utility of the common item structure with the original scale, to measure the degree and quality of communication and collaboration among staff at NICUs and similar healthcare settings in Japan. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: UMIN000007064; Pre-results.