Nurses’ Perceived Barriers to Research Utilization in a Selected Hospital at Bangalore

Abstract

Evidence-based nursing (EBN) involves identifying research findings and implementing them in nursing practice to increase the quality of patient care. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for quality health care. Thus a greater emphasis has been placed on EBN. However, there has been little documentation on the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) in Indian scenario. The perceptions of nurses play a significant role in the adoption of new guidelines and practices based on EBP. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the perceived barriers that prevent the translation of research into practice. A descriptive design was adopted for research. The setting is a private hospital at Bangalore. The sample included 150 registered nurses with qualification of GNM and B.Sc. Nursing recruited using purposive sampling technique. A Structured questionnaire was used. Socio demographic variables and Barriers to Research Utilization Scale-five point Likert scale were used. The data was collected among nurses working at acute care setting. The highest mean scores of barrier scale were: insufficient time on the job to implement new ideas (2.97); nurses does not have enough authority to change nursing procedures (2.87); nurses do not have time to read research (2.80), etc. The moderate to great barrier perceived by nurses were: the nurses do not see the value of research for practice (69.3%); research reports are not readily available (68%); etc. The results are consistent with previous studies and suggest that nursing leaders should address the deficit areas and establish systems to meet the needs of nurses.