Paper
Saturday, 22 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Translating Research into Practice
Building Quality Healthcare Workplaces: Nurses as Knowledge Sharers in Atlantic Canada
Brenda Marie Sabo, RN, BA, MA, Professional Practice Development, Capital District Health Authority, Halifax, NS, Canada, Michael Leiter, PhD, Psychology, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, Canada, and Mary Ellen Gurnham, RN, BN, MN, Professional Practice Development Department, Capital District Health Authority, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Learning Objective #1: the learner will increase their understanding of factors that maximize or mitigate the transfer of research findings into healthcare policy and practice
Learning Objective #2: the learner will be able to develop strategies for evidence-based change
Building Quality Healthcare Workplaces: Nurses as knowledge sharers in Atlantic Canada Of importance to both researchers and healthcare decision-makers is the need to transfer relevant research based findings into policy and practice. Understanding how this knowledge moves from academia to point of care and what factors enhance or suppress the transfer, uptake and utilization of research is paramount in light of rapid changes taking place within the healthcare workplace. A mixed method exploratory research design was used to examine the familiarity nurses in Atlantic Canada had concerning 6 major Canadian healthcare system reports published since 2000. Findings indicated less than 50% of nurses in Atlantic Canada recognized the names of the reports. A second component of the study examined nurses’ familiarity with the recommendations provided by the reports. Although few nurses had read the reports (between 5% & 10%), they recognized all the issues cited as important challenges for Canada’s healthcare system. Further, they felt little progress had been made to address these urgent concerns. Workload management and workforce supply were perceived as worsening while leadership development and information systems were seen as improving. This oral presentation will present findings from: * an in-depth environmental scan of selected acute care and community hospitals in four Atlantic Canadian provinces * interviews and focus groups with a cross-section of healthcare employees (including CEOs, Directors, point-of-care managers and nursing staff) * surveys of nurses across the various facilities * a one day symposium at the end of the research project * challenges of undertaking multi-jurisdictional collaborative research initiatives Suggestions and strategies will be presented to support the integration of research into healthcare policy and practice

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)