Barriers and facilitators of nursing research utilization in Iran: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: According to professionalization in nursing profession, the nursing researches expanded dramatically and rapidly in a very short period. Research results showed improvement in quality of provided care by using research findings. But there is still a gap between nursing research and practice, which led scientists to explore the barriers and facilitators of research utilization that could affect the application of research results. The aim of this review was to appraise and synthesize evidences of studies about the facilitators and barriers to research utilization in Iranian nurses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies about the barriers and facilitators of nursing research utilization in Iran was undertaken. RESULTS: The results showed that items such as “The nurse is isolated from knowledgeable colleagues with whom to discuss the research,” “There is insufficient time on the job to implement new ideas,” “The nurse does not have time to read research,” “The nurse does not feel she/he has enough authority to change patient care procedures,” “The facilities are inadequate for implementation,” “Physicians will not cooperate with implementation,” and “The relevant literature is not compiled in one place” were rated as the main barriers. CONCLUSIONS: The results of 10 studies about research utilization in Iran showed that the barriers and facilitators remained constant through time and across different locations. The rank orders of barriers and facilitators were the same approximately. The nurse managers and administrators could utilize the findings of this review to allocate human resources and other sources and promote nursing research utilization in clinical field.