Nurses’ understanding of evidence-based practice: Identification of barriers to utilization of research in teaching hospitals

BACKGROUND: In medical organizations, utilizing evidence-based practice (EBP) helps nurses and patients make the best decision in health care in certain clinical settings. Hence, recognizing its educational barriers is so important. METHODS: The present study was a descriptive-analytical research that was conducted using a cross-sectional design in 6 teaching hospitals of Qazvin City, Iran, in 2014. The study sample consisted of 260 nurses. Based on the number of the nurses working in each hospital, the study sample was chosen by a stratified random method. Two questionnaires were employed to collect the required data. The first questionnaire was Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (EBPQ) that evaluates nurses' understanding of EBP. The second questionnaire was related to measuring the barriers to utilization of research by the nurses that was developed by Funk et al. For analyzing the collected data, frequency distribution tables, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression coefficient were used. RESULTS: The total mean of EBP among the nurses was at a level above average. The subscales of knowledge/skill (3.74) and attitude (3.87) had a lower average compared to the subscale of practice (4.14). The total mean of the barriers was 3.07. According to the results of the present study, organization and adopter had the highest and lowest means, respectively. CONCLUSION: Identifying the barriers that affect effective EBP implementation can help them achieve their goals by removing these obstacles, building the necessary infrastructure, and providing human, physical, and financial resources.