[Perception of the quality of nursing research in a public hospital]

Nurses, as health professionals, play an important role in research, as progress in care and treatment could not be made without it. The aim of this study is to analyse the perception by nurses of the current research system in the whole of their hospital and, second, study how this perception varies according to their research profile, as well as their level of satisfaction and commitment to the organisation in which work.

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in a third level hospital with a convenience sample of nurses with more than 6 months experience. The Group of Experts of the III Forum of Science of the Lilly Foundation questionnaire was used, adapting it to the characteristics of the population. The purpose of the questionnaire was to collect the perception and assessment, real and ideal, that nurses have on research. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed using the Student t-test.

In the sample of 295 nurses, the perception and assessment of the current situation of nursing research, its impact, its recognition, and its integration with nursing work were well below the ideal scores, obtaining statistically differences (P<.001). There was a significance in the values that recognise that more research is needed by nursing staff, the impact and recognition by management, and synergy with the pharmaceutical industry (P<.001). The level of satisfaction did not affect the assessment, the commitment of the nurses if it influenced their assessment of the research. No differences were found between the ICU staff and the other departments as regards the perception and assessment of nursing research.

Nurses take the research as part of their functions and mention that the state of the research is very much improved. A support infrastructure is needed to strengthen research in care, as well as real recognition by institutions.