Cross-cultural adaptation of the scale National Emergency Department Overcrowding Score (NEDOCS) for use in Brazil

Adaptación transcultural de la escala National Emergency Department Overcrowding Score (NEDOCS) para uso en Brasil

ABSTRACT

Objective

To describe the process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Score (NEDOCS) into the Portuguese language for use in Brazil.

Method

Methodological study of translation and cross-cultural adaptation into the Portuguese language of Brazil, founded in the recommendations of the Guidelines for the Process of Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Self-Report Measures, that comprise the stages of initial translation; synthesis of the translations; back-translation; committee of experts; pretesting and introduction of the scale to the author.

Results

The Portuguese-adapted scale presented semantic, idiomatic, experimental and conceptual equivalence with the original one; the total value of the Cronbach`s Alpha was -0,401 due to the non-positive intercorrelation among the scale items.

Conclusions

The NEDOCS scale has proved to be a reliable instrument to be utilized in the real-time monitoring of the assignment of emergency services. Thus, it contributes to the managerial and assistance processes besides providing health indicators.

Keywords
Validation study; Emergencies; Emergency service hospital