Objective. To develop a novel scale to assess humidification during noninvasive ventilation (NIV). Methods. This study was performed in an ICU of a teaching hospital. Three ICU practitioners with more than 10 years of clinical experience developed an oral humidification scale with a range of 1–4 points. Each studied the current literature on humidification and examined 50 images of mouths of NIV patients with different levels of humidification. Then, through discussion, a consensus scale was developed. Next, 10 practitioners and 33 NIV patients were recruited to validate the scale. Finally, the patients rated the dryness of their mouths using the 1–4 visual scale just after the practitioners’ assessment. Talking and discussion were forbidden during the assessment, and the scorers were blinded to each other. Results. We performed 36 assessments in 33 NIV patients. Three patients were assessed twice each more than 2 days apart. The interitem correlation coefficients between the 10 practitioners ranged from 0.748 to 0.917. Fleiss’s kappa statistic was 0.516, indicating moderate agreement among practitioners. Of the 33 patients, 5 (15%) were unable to make an assessment using the 1–4 visual scale. Among the remainder, 55.7% provided scores that matched those given by the practitioners; 13.7% of scores were 1 point higher than that rated by the practitioners, and 20.7% were 1 point lower. Only 10% were beyond a 1-point difference. The kappa coefficient was 0.483 between patients and practitioners. Conclusions. The oral humidification scale showed moderate agreement between practitioners. It was also highly accurate in reflecting the level of humidification assessed by patients.

中文翻译：

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评估无创通气期间湿度的新量表：一项前瞻性观察研究

客观的。开发一种新的量表来评估无创通气 (NIV) 期间的湿化程度。方法。这项研究是在一所教学医院的 ICU 中进行的。三位具有10年以上临床经验的ICU从业人员制定了口腔湿化量表，分值范围为1-4分。每个人都研究了当前有关加湿的文献，并检查了 50 张不同加湿水平的 NIV 患者的口腔图像。然后，通过讨论，制定了共识量表。接下来，招募了 10 名从业者和 33 名 NIV 患者来验证该量表。最后，在医生评估后，患者立即使用 1-4 级视觉量表对口干程度进行评分。考核过程中禁止交谈和讨论，评分者之间互不知情。结果。我们对 33 名 NIV 患者进行了 36 项评估。三名患者接受两次评估，每次评估间隔超过 2 天。10名从业者之间的项间相关系数范围为0.748至0.917。Fleiss 的 kappa 统计值为 0.516，表明从业者之间的一致性中等。在 33 名患者中，5 名（15%）无法使用 1-4 视觉量表进行评估。其余55.7%的人给出的分数与从业者的分数相符；13.7%的分数比从业者评分高1分，20.7%比从业者评分低1分。只有10%的人差距超过1分。患者和医生之间的 kappa 系数为 0.483。结论。口腔加湿量表显示从业者之间的一致性中等。它在反映患者评估的加湿水平方面也非常准确。