OBJECTIVE: Examine the concurrent validity of the Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower Use Score (NEMS) in comparison to the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-28 (TISS-28) in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). METHODS: Prospective observational cohort study conducted in a PICU of a Brazilian university hospital over a period of two years with a sample of 816 patients. A total of 7,702 observations were obtained for each of the scores. RESULTS: The average maximum score of the NEMS was 26.6±9.2 and for the TISS-28 it was 21.3±8.2. The TISS-28 was lower than the NEMS (p<0.001) for all the averages. A good correlation was observed between them (r2=0.704) for all observations. Agreement between the TISS-28 and the NEMS was good, presenting only a 6.2% difference between the scores. CONCLUSION: The results show good correlation and agreement between the TISS-28 and the NEMS, enabling the NEMS validation in this population of pediatric patients.
Intensive care units; Nursing; Pediatric nursing; Indicators; Practical nursing
