​Clinical management is hypothesized to be critical for hospital management and hospital performance. Authors aim to develop and validate professional involvement scales for measuring the level of clinical management by physicians and nurses in European hospitals.

Testing of validity and reliability of scales derived from a questionnaire of 21 items was developed on the basis of a previous study and expert opinion and administered in a cross-sectional seven-country research project 'Deepening our Understanding of Quality improvement in Europe' (DUQuE). The study involved a sample of 3386 leading physicians and nurses working in 188 hospitals located in Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.

Psychometric analysis yielded four subscales for leading physicians: (i) Administration and budgeting, (ii) Managing medical practice, (iii) Strategic management and (iv) Managing nursing practice. Only the first three factors applied well to the nurses.

The professional involvement scales appear to yield reliable and valid data in European hospital settings, but the scale 'Managing medical practice' for nurses needs further exploration. The measurement instrument can be used for international research on clinical management.

• Thomas Plochg
• Onyebuchi A. Arah, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
• et al