Development of a Tool to Measure Dietitians' Involvement in the Intensive Care Setting

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Abstract
Background: Intensive care is a relatively new work area for dietitians in Australasia, and the role of the dietitian appears to differ widely between facilities. This may create difficulties with multicenter research collaboration and workforce planning. The aim of this study was to develop a validated survey tool to assess dietitians’ involvement in their intensive care teams. Methods: A full list of all 182 adult intensive care units in Australia and New Zealand was obtained from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, and all of these units were contacted. A survey tool was developed, piloted, and validated using correlation tests of construct validity; factor analysis was used to develop a 5‐item short‐form survey tool. Results: At least 1 dietitian participated from each of the 182 hospitals that were contacted, and no dietitians declined to participate in the survey (100% response rate). The survey had strong validity and test–retest reliability in the population surveyed. Conclusions: The survey tools presented here can be used to assess dietitians’ involvement in their intensive care team. The short‐form tool developed in this study is conveniently brief and easy to administer, but it will need to be validated for use outside the Australian and New Zealand health systems prior to conduct of a large‐scale survey.

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