VNSNY has a long history of devoting resources and placing great emphasis on quality of care and practice improvement.  When approached by Pace University to engage in an initiative to support field nurses in operationalizing evidence based practice, the question arose: How would this be different from what we are already doing?  It was obvious that in order for leadership to commit time and effort to a study, which tested a model of integrating EBP into the practice environment (the Advancing Research and Clinical Practice through Close Collaboration or ARCC model), they would need enough information to differentiate between quality improvement initiatives and EBP innovations in practice.  Succinct communication and substantiation of the value of this work for the organization, the nursing profession and the specialty of home health care was required.  Relating EBP integration to ANCC's characteristics of a magnet organizations provided a provocative and influential framework for discussion.  Once senior management approval was secured, program commitment was addressed.  At this level, linking EBP to attaining agency specific quality targets proved to be successful in achieving buy-in to participate in the study.  As the work progressed, direct observation of the effect that working on solving a clinical problem had on the nursing staff's sense of professionalism and enthusiasm for their job reinforced the wisdom of the decision to partner with an academic institution to make EBP a reality for staff nurses.