Perioperative nurses’ knowledge, practice, attitude, and perceived barriers to evidence use: A multisite, cross-sectional survey

Despite the wide acceptance of evidence-based practice as the foundation for professional health care delivery, there still remains a considerable gap between research evidence and current perioperative nursing practice. The aim of this study was to describe the self-reported knowledge, practice, attitudes and perceived barriers to evidence-based practice among perioperative nurses from nine metropolitan hospitals. Eight hundred nurses were sent a survey comprising two validated tools, the Barriers to Research Utilisation Scale (BARRIERS Scale) and the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (EBPQ). Four hundred and ninety-three participants completed the returned the survey (60%). On the seven-point EBPQ, participants rated their evidence-based practice knowledge as 4.65 (1=poor to 7=excellent); their use of evidence-based practice as 4.12 (1=never to 7=frequently); and their attitude to evidence-based practice as 5.23 (1=negative to 7=positive). On the BARRIERS Scale (1=no barrier to 4=great barrier) issues related to the organisation were identified as the most significant barrier (2.66); followed by research communication issues (2.76); individual adopter-related issues (2.65); and issues about the innovation (2.52). These results indicate that this sample of Australian perioperative nurses have a positive attitude to evidence-based practice and reasonable knowledge of the topic; but this has not resulted in extensive use of evidence in the clinical setting.