The reliability of circumference measurement among nurses in public hospitals, Samutsakhon Province, Thailand, 2018
Keywords:
technical error of measurement, measuring tape, nurses, SamutsakhonAbstract
Background: Microcephaly brought high concern after Zika outbreaks occurred worldwide. The head circumference (HC) directly affected to prevalence of microcephaly, but the errors never be assessed. This study aims to assess the error of HC measuring tapes and the technical error of measurement ( TEM) among laborroom nurses in public hospitals at Samutsakhon Province, May 2018.
Methods: We conducted a cross sectional study in May 2018. Single evaluator measured 30 round objects by steel and fiberglass tape. The labor room nurses and 1 pediatrician (standard reference) measured the objects by steel tape for 2 times. The mean absolute difference (MAD) of each measuring tapes were compared using Wilcoxon signed- rank test. The circumference obtained by nurses and pediatrician were calculated in term of intra- evaluator TEM, inter- evaluator TEM, average bias and coefficient of reliability ( R) . Univariate and multivariate analysis (between TEM VS age and working experience) were calculated by regression.
Results: One general practitioner, 29 labor room nurses and 1 pediatrician enrolled to this study. The mean absolute difference ±SD of steel and fiberglass tape were 0.03±0.05 and 0.06±0.06 cm, respectively. Minimum and maximum difference were -0.2–0.1, -0.1–0.2 cm., respectively. P-value was 0.03. Intra-evaluator TEM of nurses were 0.03 – 0.09 cm and standard reference was 0.05 cm. Inter-evaluator TEM of nurses were 0.005–0.023. The coefficient of reliability of all nurses was 1.00. The average bias were–0.02–0.19 cm. No statistically significant between intra-evaluator TEM and age/working experience (Adjusted P-value = 0.547 and 0.479, respectively).
Conclusions: Even though this study demonstrated the larger measuring by fiberglass tape, it will not affect to the clinical interpretation due to the small difference. The nurses had a high Skill and levels of reliability of circumference measurement. These results suggested the circumference which measured by labor room nurse was valid and using fiberglass tape was good enough.
References
World Health Organization. Microcephaly [cited 2019 Jan 9 ] . Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/microcephaly/en/
Alfaro-Murillo JA, Parpia AS, Fitzpatrick MC, Tamagnan JA, Medlock J, Ndeffo-Mbah ML, et al. A Cost-Effectiveness Tool for Informing Policies on Zika Virus Control. PLoS neglected tropical diseases. 2016;10 (5) :e0004743-e.
World Health Organization. Screening, assessment and management of neonates and infants with complications associated with Zika virus exposure in utero [cited 2 0 1 9 Jan 1 4 ] . Available from: http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/zika/assessment-infants/en/.
Hinjoy S, Kongyu S, Poonkesorn S, Sangwanloy S. Statistical correlations between infection of dengue viruses, chikungunya virus, measles, rubella and children with microcephaly less than one year of age in Thailand. Disease control journal. 2014;42(4):280-9.
Thammaros T, Chalom K, Tonchiangsai K, Nittayasoot N, Sookkasem K, Sukwet S, et al. Epidemiological situation and evaluation of the microcephaly reporting system in a central province of Thailand, 2017. OSIR. Forthcoming 2019.
Engstrom JL. Assessment of the reliability of physical measures. Research in Nursing & Health. 1988;11(6) :383-9.
Perini TA, Oliveira GLd, Ornellas JdS, Oliveira FPd. Cálculo do erro técnico de medição em antropometria. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte. 2005;11:81-5.
Mueller WH, Martorell R. Reliability and accuracy of measurement. In: Lohman TG, Roche AF, Martorell R, editors. Anthropometric Standardisation Reference Manual Human Kinetics Books. Illinois. p.83–6.
Johnson TS, Engstrom JL. State of the science in measurement of infant size at birth. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 2002;2(3):150-8.
Harris SR. Measuring head circumference: Update on infant microcephaly. Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien. 2015;61(8):680-4.
Intergrowth-2 1 st. Standards and Tools [cited 2 0 1 9 Jan 9]. Available from: https://intergrowth21.tghn.org/standards-tools/
Barmeyer GH. Magic, science, and head circumference. Rocky Mountain Medical J. 1971;68:42-4.
Sutter K, Engstrom JL, Johnson TS, Kavanaugh K, Ifft DL. Reliability of head circumference measurements in preterm infants. Pediatric nursing. 1997;23(5):485-90.
West J, Manchester B, Wright J, Lawlor DA, Waiblinger D. Reliability of routine clinical measurements of neonatal circumferences and research measurements of neonatal skinfold thicknesses: findings from the Born in Bradford study. Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology. 2011;25(2):164-71.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Weekly Epidemiological Surveillance Report
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Responsibility and Copyright
1. Author Responsibility and Editorial Disagreement
The content and data in all articles published in WESR are the direct opinions and responsibility of the article authors, and the Journal's Editorial Board is not necessarily in agreement with, or jointly responsible for, them.
2. Copyright and Referencing
All articles, data, content, figures, etc., published in WESR are considered the copyright of the academic journal. If any individual or entity wishes to disseminate all or any part of the published material, appropriate citation of the article is required.
