"Nurses have come a long way in a few short decades. In the past our attention focused on physical, mental, and emotional healing. Now we talk of healing your life, healing the environment, and healing the planet"
-Lynn Keegan, 1994
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BARRIERS TO RESEARCH UTILIZATION
(From
Barriers to and
facilitators of research utilization in perioperative nursing practice)
Absence of published research on specific clinical issues.
Published research may have limitations (eg, sample size, design) that restrict the ability to generalize results to clinical practice settings. Nurses may lack experience reading and critiquing research reports and may have difficulty interpreting study designs and statistical findings. These factors are compounded by the fact that many research projects--especially theses and dissertations--never are published or presented, making their findings inaccessible to staff nurses.
Investigators may not approach research from a clinical perspective
Use of research jargon makes it difficult for staff nurses to understand or interpret study results. Published research may have few clinical applications Staff nurses may not read nursing research journals. Research reports most often are presented to audiences of researchers; therefore, pertinent clinical findings may not reach nurses who can use these new ideas in patient care.
Traditional nursing education and administration philosophies
Entry-level nursing programs place varying degrees of importance on research and research utilization. Many of today's experienced staff nurses did not study research during their basic nursing programs and have not had opportunities to do so through continuing education programs. Only since the late 1970s have most nursing baccalaureate programs have begun including specific research content in their curricula. Even today, few associate degree nursing programs provide research content.
Administrative barriers (eg, lack of
time, money, clinical resources) that thwart research utilization activities.
Nurse administrators may not value or recognize the importance of research-based practice, and clinical environments may not sanction research utilization. Limited access to experts who are knowledgeable about research methods Practice settings and academia may not collaborate on research efforts, and limited library resources may affect staff nurses' ability to find research to use in their practices.
Lack of questioning. This lack of
questioning contributes to research problems not being identified.
Traditions in nursing are accepted as fact. And questioning traditions may not be regarded highly in clinical settings that offer few incentives for nurses to use research. Not all nursing textbooks acknowledge existing research or discuss how opinion guides nursing practice. Nurses may not value research utilization or understand how it differs from actually conducting research.
FACILITATORS OF RESEARCH UTILIZATION
The most crucial factor in facilitating research utilization is the identification of clinically relevant problems and issues. Other facilitating factors include environments in which individuals are committed to critical thinking and to the research utilization process. Nursing administrators who provide adequate resources (eg, personnel, money, time) help promote research utilization. Staff nurses in these environments benefit from having increased understanding of research and research utilization. Nurse administrators facilitate research utilization when they clearly communicate to staff nurses the value of research utilization and provide incentives. Negotiating linkages between practice settings and academia, nurse administrators can support collaboration between novice and expert researchers. Nurse administrators can work with medical librarians to facilitate staff nurses' access to the nursing literature by negotiating flexible library hours and computerized literature searches using the Internet.
ASSESS YOUR CLINICAL SETTING
Nurses in each clinical setting must identify barriers and facilitators to research utilization. What barriers or facilitators exist in your clinical setting? Does your organization value research and encourage research utilization? Are people willing to help you use research findings in your practice? Are resources available to facilitate your use of research findings? Are your colleagues willing to try new clinical practice ideas?