The psychotropic education and knowledge test for nurses in nursing homes: striving for PEAK performance.

Objectives: The psychotropic education and knowledge test for nurses in acute geriatric care (PEAK-AC) measures knowledge of psychotropic indications, doses and adverse drug reactions in older inpatients. Given the low internal consistency and poor discrimination of certain items, this study aims to adapt the PEAK-AC, validate it in the nursing home setting and identify factors related to nurses' knowledge of psychotropics.

Method: This study included nurses and nurse assistants employed by nursing homes (n = 13) and nursing students at educational institutions (n = 5) in Belgium.