A survey of variables related to research utilization in nursing practice in the acute care setting

Support from the work environment, attitude of nurses and availability of research findings are variables that influence the use of research in clinical practice. Acknowledging the importance of these variables in obtaining the goal of evidence based nursing practice, a nursing department of an acute care hospital determined that exploring these variables in its own setting was important to the successful planning of research education and utilization initiatives. This study describes the extent of selected factors (research support and availability, and attitude towards research) in relation to research utilization within this nursing department and based on the findings, suggests a number of ways nurse administrators can support research utilization, promote positive attitudes towards research and enhance availability of research findings in practice.