Croatian Registered Nurses - Perception of Barriers to Research Utilization: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite positive effects of research utilization on improving the quality of care, nurses meet numerous obstacles when trying to bridge the gap between the theory and utilization of research findings in nursing practice. AIM: The study was conducted to identify barriers to research utilization in daily nursing practice among registered nurses in University Hospital Center Osijek, Croatia. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in University Hospital Center Osijek, Croatia in 2014. The study included 415 registered nurses, randomly selected. The BARRIERS Scale and a demographic data questionnaire were used to collect data. RESULTS: The study identified organizational barriers as major obstacles to implementing research findings. The items rated highest were “there is insufficient time on the job to implement new ideas” (78.2%), “nurse does not feel she/he has enough authority to change patient care procedures” (77.5%), “relevant literature is not compiled in one place” (72.1%), “physicians will not cooperate with implementation” (70.5%), and “nurse does not have time to read research” (70.4%). The item “relevant literature is not compiled in one place” belongs to communication subscale, while the other items belong to organizational barriers subscale. CONCLUSION: Registered nurses employed in University Hospital Center Osijek, Croatia perceived organizational barriers as major obstacles to research utilization.