%0 Journal Article %T Validity and reliability of the simplified Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System in intensive care units of a public sector hospital in Johannesburg %A LC Kisorio %A P Becker %J Southern African Journal of Critical Care %D 2009 %I %X Purpose. To introduce the simplified Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS-28) and to employ the original Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS-76) and Simplified Acute Physiological Score (SAPS) version II in critically ill adult patients in order to describe the validity and reliability of TISS-28 as a suitable measure of quantifying nursing workload in the adult intensive care units (ICUs) of a public sector hospital in Johannesburg. Objectives. To describe the profile of patient admissions to the ICUs, to investigate the impact of the patients¡¯ profile on the requirements for nursing workload, and to validate the use of the TISS-28 as a measure for quantifying nursing workload in this setting. Design. A non-experimental, comparative, correlation and prospective two-staged design was utilised to meet the study objectives. Stage I involved face and content validation of TISS-28 by a panel of 6 ICU nurse experts. Stage II involved assessment of concurrent and construct validity as well as inter-rater reliability of TISS-28 using 105 participants drawn from trauma, cardiothoracic and multidisciplinary ICUs. Data necessary for the calculation of TISS-28, TISS-76 and SAPS II were recorded for each patient in the ICU at 24 and 48 hours after admission and in the wards after discharge within 24 - 48 hours. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data. Results. A content validity index (CVI) of 0.93 was found for TISS-28. A significant positive correlation was found between TISS-28 and TISS-76 scores (r=0.7857, p=0.0001). Although the correlation between TISS-28 and SAPS II was significant (p=0.0317), it was small (r=0.2098). A significant intra-class correlation (ICC) was found for the data collected from a sample of patients by the researcher and expert assistant researcher (ICC=0.99; p=0.0001). Conclusions. The findings support the validity and reliability of TISS-28 and hence its feasibility for use in South African ICUs. Recommendations for nursing education, practice, management and research are proposed. %U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajcc/article/view/52973