Introduction
Despite access to research findings, nurses do not utilize these research findings as required. This is caused by lack of support from senior managers and other health officers. Another barrier in the utilization and implementation of research findings is that some health articles are not written in English.
Lack of implementation is also as a result of too much material in the reports. Reading the entire report and implementing it may take up a lot of time.
Key Findings
According to this research, 58% of the nurses did not participate in scientific activities and research, 72.9% did not attend any scientific activity such as congress and symposium in their career, 63% could not communicate in English as it was not their first language, and 84.4% of these nurses were only engaged in scientific research activities as participants.
Though 62.3% of the respondents confirmed that they infrequently participated in congress, 84.4% of those who participated complained that they did not receive financial support. However, 53.5% of the nurses were not willing to participate in research due to varied reasons.
It was also evident that 62.4% of the participants did not know that these scientific activities existed. 45.4% of the nurses indicated that the most significant barrier to the participation and implementation of research findings was the lack of sufficient time on the job to implement the new ideas. 32.4% of the nurses also felt that they could not change the health care procedures already in place.
Also, 30.3% of the nurses had no time to read the research findings (Aksayan, Bahar, & Bayık, 2004).
Similarities of Research Findings
The research showed that nurses would be willing to participate more in scientific study if they had sufficient time, financial and institutional support.
The findings of this research showed that a low number of nurses in the Eastern Anatolian Region participated in scientific activities and research, also a small percentage were able to follow the research journals.
These findings are consistent with previous research reports in other parts of the world. Research conducted in Australia showed that, 70% of the nurses did not participate in any scientific activity in the health care profession. This study also found out that 85% of the nurses did not keep up with professional journals.
The study carried out in the UK proved that 70% of the nurses did not participate in any scientific research. Studies conducted by Yava and colleagues from Turkey showed that 11.3% of the nurses took part in the research process.
This report also indicated that 70% of the nurses did not participate in scientific activities. The study also revealed that 90.8% of the participants never subscribed to any periodical.
Another study conducted by Emiroglu and colleagues showed that 24.9% of the nurses interviewed had not participated in any scientific activity. This research also showed that only 19.1% of the nurses read scientific journals and periodicals.
Factors Leading to the Current Situation
Multiple researches conducted by different groups indicate that nurses do not frequently participate in scientific research. It is evident that only a small percentage of nurses keep up with scientific journals and other publications.
These studies show that nurses encounter some key barriers which hinder them from effectively taking part and following up on research and scientific activities.
Studies conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom and other parts of the world indicate that insufficient time was one of the prevalent barriers to the implementation of new ideas. Another major barrier is the lack of authority to change the patient care procedures in the health centers.
Major barriers identified in research are as a result of lack of collaboration and chance for implementation, and incomprehension of statistical data.
There is also no reported need to implement changes based on research. Some nurses also do not have colleagues with whom they can discuss the research findings.
For nurses to have autonomy in their practice, it is necessary for senior health officials to consider some important facilitators for research utilization in nursing practice. These facilitators include individual and organizational factors, and empowerment of nurses (Aksayan, et al., 2004).
According to the findings of different studies, nurses should be informed about scientific developments and clinical implementations through in-service training. Information about scientific development should also be included in research courses undertaken in colleges prior to graduation.
Managers in a health institution should support and encourage nurses to participate in research and scientific activities (Tan, Sahin, & Ozdemir, 2012).
If this research had been conducted in the United States, the findings would have been similar. This is because the health care environment in United States, Turkey, and other parts of the world is quite similar. This is evident because the results published in both Turkish and international journals are similar (Tan, et al., 2012).
Conclusion
Nurses in Turkey and all over the world face a number of challenges as they try to adapt to health care environment. Communication and language problems are the most common barriers during the transition and adaptation period.
Regulatory agencies, employers, and fellow nurses cite language as the most prevailing barrier in the implementation of research findings.
Experts in the nursing field suggest that time constraint is a major cause of failure of implementation of the research findings. According to this research, nurses barely find time to read the research findings.
References
Aksayan, S., Bahar, Z., & Bayık, A. (2004). Nursing Research Principles and Methods of the process. Istanbul, Turkey: Focus Offset.
Tan, M., Sahin, Z. A., & Ozdemir, F.K. (2012). Barriers of research utilization from the perspective of nurses in Eastern Turkey. Nursing Outlook, 60 (1), 44-50.
doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2011.07.002.