Research findings used in practice

[Rtyler]

Why do you think reserch findings are not used more often to guide professional practice? Can you think of strategies that would increase the use of research findings in your practice?

[mommatrauma, RN]

I think it would have to depend upon who the researchers were, what they researched, what outcomes they had and how big of a group they researched...Smaller groups studied may have less merit as there because the same project researched in larger groups may yeild different results...and a drug company doing research on their drug may swing their results more in favor of their company, and report only the good things, to make themselves look better...We do use a lot of research findings in our practice, but our doctors don't just pick everything that was researched...for instance, you could sit outside of McDonald's and predict that in your research study 90% of customers will be overweight...you'd be right...and you could also predict that if you sat outside of a health food store 75% would be thin...see what I'm saying? Just cause its studied and researched doesn't mean it is necessarily helpful and useful knowledge...

[begalli]

Why do you think reserch findings are not used more often to guide professional practice?

I do think that research findings are frequently used to change or enhance nursing practice. What we do in nursing is overwhemingly evidence based, not based on tradition.

Can you think of strategies that would increase the use of research findings in your practice?

One way of increasing use of research findings in my practice is to keep abreast of what is new by reading journals and attending conferences and classes. I have taken information gained from conferences and presented it to my nurse manager who in turn asked me to present it to staff. Inidividual nurses can do this and advocate keeping up-to-date with what's proven best for good patient care.

Is that what you were looking for?

[Rtyler]

I do think that research findings are frequently used to change or enhance nursing practice. What we do in nursing is overwhemingly evidence based, not based on tradition.

One way of increasing use of research findings in my practice is to keep abreast of what is new by reading journals and attending conferences and classes. I have taken information gained from conferences and presented it to my nurse manager who in turn asked me to present it to staff. Inidividual nurses can do this and advocate keeping up-to-date with what's proven best for good patient care.

Is that what you were looking for?

Yes, thanks for your response.