This paper starts from a research on the reliability and validity assessment of Perroca's patient classification instrument. Its purpose is to analyze the construct validity of this instrument, as well as to check its use in nursing management practice. Study participants were a hundred forty-one patients, allocated in Intensive Care and Hospitalization Units of a school hospital in the interior of São Paulo State, Brazil. Several statistical techniques were used to show the construct validity of the instrument. Research results revealed the importance of all critical indicators, each of which has its own role in determining the patient's complexity degree in relation to nursing care. Therefore, the study showed that the instrument shows evidence of validity. Hence, it is useful for nursing management practice, as a guide to the patient's care needs as well as to the nursing team's workload.
nursing assessment; validity; nursing care
