Abstract: Objective: The psychometric properties and methodological quality of patient safety-oriented tools measuring transitional care were systematically evaluated to provide reference for medical health care professionals to select the best assessment tools. Methods: Databases were searched to collect studies on the instruments of measuring transitional care from their inception to October 27, 2022. COSMIN was used by 2 researchers independently to screen the literature and extract the data. In this paper, the content validity, structure validity, internal consistency, stability and hypothesis testing were analyzed in detail. Results: A total of 27 studies were included involving 9 measurement tools for transitional care. In terms of content validity, 1 tool was evaluated as “sufficient”, 8 tools were evaluated as “uncertain” or “not mentioned”. As to structure validity, 1 tool was evaluated as “sufficient”, 8 tools were considered as “uncertain”. In terms of internal consistency, 1 tool was evaluated as “insufficient”, 1 tool was evaluated as “uncertain”, 7 tools were evaluated as “sufficient”. When it comes to stability, 1 tool was classified as “insufficient”, 1 tool was classified as “uncertain”, 7 tools were classified as “not mentioned”. On the aspect of hypothesis testing, 4 tools were evaluated as “sufficient”, 5 tools were evaluated as “uncertain” or “not mentioned”. Conclusion: In view of evaluation results and grading of evidence, the recommended rating of the Care Transition Measure was grade A, the other 8 tools was grade B. No tool was grade C. Therefore, it can be temporarily recommended for use. It has good reliability and validity, but whether it can be widely used in China still needs further research.

Key words: COSMIN; transitional care; patient safety; systematic review