Study Clarifies How Staff Nurses Use Research in Practice
By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor
Most health care professionals agree that it’s important to apply research findings to real-life practice. Indeed, several studies have shown that nurses place a high value on doing just that. Yet numerous barriers continue to prevent or hamper the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP).
Table 4. ‘Of the tools available to you at work and/or home, which tools do you use?’
To learn more, Linda Yoder and colleagues surveyed nearly 800 staff nurses in an acute care multihospital system. They sought to determine the extent to which these RNs used research findings in their practice; what types of knowledge they used; and what personal, professional, and organizational factors enhanced or hindered their use of research. In one of this month’s two CE features, “Staff Nurses’ Use of Research to Facilitate Evidence-Based Practice,” Yoder and colleagues report on their findings. Here’s a short summary.
Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, online survey design was used. The survey, which asked about use of research findings in practice and EBP participation, was placed on the hospital system intranet.
Results: The forms of knowledge that staff nurses reported relying on most were their personal experience with patients, conferences, hospital policies and procedures, physician colleagues, and nursing peers. Although a variety of resources were available for help in locating research and implementing EBP, respondents reported many of the same […]