The Professional Issues (PI) scales were designed to measure potential barriers that nurses perceive as obstacles to providing quality care to hospitalized older adults. This study involved validation of the PI scales among 1,068 Portuguese nurses and evaluated the influence of hospital and nurse characteristics on the perception of PI related to nursing care. A six-factor solution was obtained (i.e., staff/family/patient disagreement, perceived legal vulnerability, burden of upsetting behaviors, staff disagreement, perceived upsetting behaviors, use of geriatric services), with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.857 to 0.716. These factors were significantly associated with the following variables: sex, hospital type, hospital location, unit type, perceived institutional support for geriatric-specific education, perceived staff knowledge, and the burden of caring for older adults. The PI scales are reliable and valid for assessing the geriatric-related PI of nurses working in Portuguese hospitals and are useful for developing, planning, and implementing geriatric programs.
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