Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (ISSN: 2249-622X)

Abstract

Perceived barriers to Evidence Based Practice among Registered Nurses

Author(s): Umarani J

Background: Despite the huge increase in the amount of research being generated within the nursing professions, the integration of research findings into practice remains problematic (Parkin & Bullocks, 2005) and the actual utilization of research finding is still poor (Rassool, 2005).
Objective: The main aim of the present study is to assess the perception on barriers to utilize the research findings into practice among registered nurses.
Materials and Methods: The study design chosen was descriptive in nature. The study was conducted among 100 registered nurses of Yenepoya University and hospital. The samples were selected by non probability purposive sampling technique. After the approval from the Institution Ethics Committee, the data was collected through Sandra G. Funk’s Barriers to Research Utilization Scale, which is a 5 point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5 with 35 items related to barriers for research findings utilization.
Findings: The base line data revealed that 85% of the samples were in the age group of 21-30 years and most of the samples were female(91%). Majority (65%) of the participants were working as staff nurse with GNM qualification and had no research experience. The finding of the study denotes that most of the respondents perceived that the physician, administration and other staffs won’t cooperate to implement the research findings. The nurses working in the hospital felt that there is no time to implement the evidence into practice; relevant literature is not compiled in one place and uncertain whether to believe the research results. The greatest barriers identified by the registered nurses are that the nurse doesn’t have enough authority to make change, the benefits of change will be minimal and the nurse is unwilling to try new ideas. There was no association found between the barriers and the demographic variables.
Conclusion: Perceived personal, unit-based, and organizational barriers were identified through this research in an effort to highlight the areas for improvement at the local and national levels. Effort can be taken to remove these barriers and resources can be provided to implement evidence based practice which enhances the patient care outcome.

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