Evidence-based nursing practice, Part 2: Building skills through research roundtables

Numerous articles describe barriers to nurses conducting research and achieving evidence-based practice as well as strategies for overcoming barriers. The Research Roundtable format is one such strategy. It is an interactive means for providing novice nurse researchers and nursing students with the skill sets required to drive application of existing evidence to nursing practice and conduct outcome studies to derive new evidence. The authors discuss their Research Roundtable series that addressed a number of barriers to research, research utilization, and evidence-based practice and how the series increased nurses knowledge and skills, demystified the research process, provided role models, demonstrated managerial and collegial support, and provided library, fiscal, and other resource support to complete staff projects. The details of the Research Roundtable series will guide others in replicating the process in their own organizations and academic communities.