Banner Mobility Assessment Tool for Nurses: Instrument Validation

The purpose of this study was to validate a tool created to assess mobility in hospitalized patients because existing tools for quickly assessing patients’ mobility status at the bedside are not adequate. A patient’s mobility status can influence treatment, patient handling and transfer decisions, and outcomes, including fall risk. Utilizing a mobility assessment can provide reliable information to improve patient safety and prevent complications of immobility. A research study was designed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Banner Mobility Assessment Tool (BMAT), developed from combining existing tools. Instrument validation was conducted using an expert panel to assess content validity. A contrasted-groups approach and expert agreement was used to determine construct validity. Inter-rater reliability was determined by having 4 observers simultaneously completing the assessment on the same group of patients. Findings indicate the BMAT has adequate construct validity (χ2 = 22.68, P < 0.001), indicating the BMAT is able to discriminate differences between patient groups. Construct validity through expert agreement also indicated an 81% agreement (κ = 0.75) supporting BMAT construct validity. Additionally, the BMAT was determined to be reliable with 93% agreement (κ = 0.91) between multiple observers. The study provides initial evidence to support the BMAT as a valid instrument for use in assessing a patient’s mobility status at the bedside. Further studies could add knowledge in determining patients’ mobility status and its effectiveness as a factor used to assign safe patient handling equipment and prevent patient falls.

Boynton T, Kelly L, Perez A, Miller M, An Y, Trudgen C

Keywords: mobility assessment, patient assessment, safe patient handling