Innovation adoption behavior among nurses

This study examined the extent of adoption by clinical nurses of 14 research-based nursing practices and explored characteristics of the nurses which may have influenced their use of innovations. The relationship between the nurses' adoption of innovative practices and their perception of organizational support in the form of a hospital policy about the practice was also examined. The 14 nursing practices used in the study met the criteria established by the 1982 Conduct and Utilization of Research in Nursing (CURN) Project. The Nursing Practice Questionnaire (NPQ) developed by Brett (1987) to explore nurses' stage of innovation adoption was sent to a random sample of nurses in 10 medium sized hospitals throughout North Carolina; 113 nurses responded. The majority of the sample were aware of 9 of the 14 nursing practices. The percentage who were aware of individual practices ranged from 28% to 93.8%. Eight of the 14 practices were used regularly by more than half of the sample.