The barriers to evidence-based nursing implementation in mainland China: A qualitative content analysis

It has been widely recognized that healthcare practices should be based on up-to-date high-quality evidence; however, the implementation of evidence has been a slow process in nursing practice. It is crucial for clinical practitioners to be aware of the barriers to implementing evidence-based nursing. The aim of this study was to describe participants' experiences and thoughts on barriers to implementing evidence-based nursing in mainland China. Forty-five participants came from 45 evidence-based nursing implementation projects carried out in 16 hospitals in mainland China. Data were collected through observation and semi-structured interviews, after which qualitative content analysis was undertaken. Then, the five themes and subthemes were extracted from the data. The five themes were evidence-based, nurse-related, patient-related, setting barriers, and lack of support. In this study, a variety of barriers influencing evidence implementation in the Chinese nursing context were identified and further explored from the perspective of clarifying misunderstandings about evidence-based nursing, the profound influence of Chinese culture on patients' preferences and attitudes, and the lack of professional knowledge of nurses.