Rural and remote Australian general practice nurses' sources of evidence for knowledge translation: a cross-sectional...

This paper explores nurses' sources of knowledge for evidence-based practice, comparing rural/remote, urban and regional participants.

A cross-sectional survey of practice nurses in the state of Victoria was conducted in 2008. The instrument used was the Developing Evidence-based Practice Questionnaire - Au, distributed to a convenience sample of nurses with response of 590 (33%). Survey data were stratified by geographical location for this exploratory report.

The sample was representative of practice nurses, with half employed in either regional or rural and remote areas. Rural and remote nurses were less qualified in nursing than urban nurses. However, rural, remote and regional nurses were significantly less likely to apply experiential knowledge as evidence and were more likely to source knowledge from clinical nurse specialists or nurse practitioners, local audit reports or articles in research and medical journals. Nurses in each work category reported in-service training, conferences and information shared by colleagues as important in developing their knowledge for practice. According to participants, evidence-based practice would be promoted by allocation of work time, education and training in research skills, and improved access to resources.

Rural and remote practice nurses prioritised the development of their skills in sourcing and appraising evidence for practice as a strategy to facilitate knowledge translation at the point of care.