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serve those needs. It discusses the strategies used to encourage use of the system, how nurses used it, which resources they used most, and how satisfied they were after the system had been operational for ten months. The project team, nursing management, and nursing staff co-operated to develop, implement, and maintain an information system that would provide access to appropriate nursing resources and to create an environment that would promote their use. The ultimate goal of the study was to facilitate the provision of healthcare based on the best available evidence. This required both the provision of appropriate information resources and a workplace in which information management skills could be acquired and the application of information to practice was accepted as a nursing role.While many agencies are making knowledge resources available to clinicians, there is little literature that discusses or provides evidence for the types of resource that should be provided or how best they can be used. There is some discussion in the literature on how to assess information systems [1] and there are studies identifying factors that influence nurses' satisfaction with information systems [2] [3], but there is little information about the use of and satisfaction with particular software packages. Information on selections of software to assist in clinical decision making is also lacking. Schlehofer suggests that nurses require access to multisectorial information resources because of the range of information that must be incorporated in nursing decision making [4]. Nurses also need information resources specific to their profession. Royle et al. explored the types of resources nurses exploited, their knowledge needs, and the extent to which applications included in the information system were translated into clinical practice [5]. A challenge for designers is to ensure that their clinical information systems bring together resources that support all components of evidence-based decision making, a complex process that according to a recent model involves research evidence, clinical expertise, patient preferences and available resources [6].The provision of information resources does not guarantee their use. A systematic review of both the research utilization and dissemination literatures shows that studies acknowledge the importance of the individual, the organization, and the environment in influencing research use [7]. The current consensus is that organizational factors are more important than either individual or environmental factors, but each factor must be addressed when designing strategies to promote evidence-based practice. The dissemination literature is only partially concerned with computerized information sys- The authors describe a study to plan and implement an information system for nurses. The objectives were to (1) determine the clinical information needs of nurses; (2) adapt an existing clinical information system (CLINT) to address their expressed needs; and (3) evaluate nurses' use of and satisf...

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In this article, the authors provide an overview on the development of a Long-Term Care Best Practise Resource Centre. The results of both a feasibility study and the outcomes of a 1-year demonstration project are presented. The demonstration project involved a hospital as the information service provider and two demonstration sites, a home care service agency and a nursing home that used the services of the Centre. The goals of the Centre were threefold: provide access to literature for staff in long-term care (LTC) settings; improve the information management skills of health care providers; and support research and the integration of best practices in LTC organizations. The results of the pilot study contributed to the development of a collaborative information access system for LTC clinicians and managers that provides timely, up-to-date information contributing to improving the quality of care for adults receiving LTC. Based on this demonstration project, strategies for successful innovation in LTC are identified.