Abstract: Objective: This study aimed to determine the technical difficulty coefficient of common nursing operations in Tianjin. Methods: Totally 2 082 nursing administrators and senior nurses were selected through convenient sampling, and were offered a questionnaire produced on the basis of relevant literature reviews to evaluate the difficulty score of 84 common nursing operations, which were decided first according to the technical difficulty coefficient of each operation item through weighted linear sum method and then revised through Delphi method. Results: The familiarity, judgment coefficient and authority of the respondents were 0.66, 0.88 and 0.77, respectively, and the inter-rater reliability was 0.455. The three most difficult nursing operations weredefibrillation, care and maintenance of central veins and gastric lavage through machines, while the three least difficult ones were body temperature measurement, body weight measurement and height measurement. Conclusion: The difficulty coefficient of clinical nursing operations varies greatly. Scientific measurement of technical difficulty of nursing operations provides a basis for the overall technical difficulty assessment and workload analysis of clinical departments, and offers further theoretical support for the rational allocation of human resources and the establishment of performance appraisal programs.

Key words: nursing operation; technical difficulty; evaluation