Nursing research and nursing practice: an exploration of two different cultures

Despite increasing efforts by both the government and the professions to institute evidence-based practice, there still remains a significant research practice gap in UK nursing. This paper explores the two worlds of practice and research and the factors that may affect them. It suggests that academic researchers and practitioners often have different perspectives and are working under different imperatives. These different cultures need to be recognized and made more explicit. Consideration will be given as to what sort of evidence is required by practitioners to nurse effectively, how we should identify this evidence and the role which research plays. The disharmony between the worlds of research and practice extends the discussion to consider the ways in which research is produced and disseminated. The question is raised as to why researchers fail to identify the contingencies, adaptations and social biases that affect their work. Strategies that might facilitate a franker discussion of research and the way in which it is produced will be illustrated by examples of research work undertaken by the author.