The dissemination and utilization of nursing research

Abstract

Research will be of little use to nursing and health care unless it is properly disseminated and consequently used to improve practice. However, there is evidence to suggest that much research is inadequately disseminated and that relevant research is not used in practice (Hunt, 1981; Greenwood, 1984; Walsh and Ford, 1989; Department of Health, 1993a). It is well established that a ‘gap’ exits between research and practice and this can be examined by using two contrasting models of the role of research in nursing. The research/practice gap will be small, if it is present at all, in a model of nursing that claims that research and delivering nursing care go ‘hand in hand’. This suggests that proper nursing care can only be achieved if it is informed by nursing knowledge and supported by continuous research activity by qualified nurses and that the failure to do this amounts to ‘professional negligence’ (McFarlane, 1984). Research in this ‘generalist’ model is thus an integral part of professional nursing and is egalitarian, in that all participate in it.