The primary aim of the ARCC (Advancing Research and Clinical Practice through Close Collaboration) pilot study is to evaluate effects of an evidence-based practice (EBP) education and mentoring program (ARCC) on nurse, physician, social worker, patient, and system outcomes. The study consists of two phases: Phase I, which is completed and focused on nurse outcomes after nurse participants received education and mentoring in designing an EBP project, and Phase II, which consists of implementing the EBP project and evaluating its outcomes. In Phase I a two-group case comparative design enlisted nursing teams in the Long Term Home Health Care Program (LTHHCP) of the VNSNY, which were randomly assigned to an ARCC or comparison group. The ARCC intervention consisted of 4 one-hour presentations by an expert on EBP basics and an EBP mentor available onsite for a 12-week consultation period to help nurses design an EBP project. Phase 2, implementation of the EBP project, is in progress. The comparison group received education on adult physical assessment comparable in length to the “EBP basics”. The results of Phase I demonstrated statistically significant differences in the expected direction for nurses' EBP attitudes and implementation behaviors as well as perceptions of group cohesiveness. These results were reported at the STTI Convention in November 2005. This symposium will focus on the process of gaining access to the clinical agency to conduct the study, how the ARCC model was implemented with nurse participants, the organization's administrative perception of the study, and the experience of nurse participants in the ARCC group.