Barriers and Suggested Facilitators to the Implementation of Best Practice: An Integrative Review

Abstract

It is well known that the incorporation of research findings into practice leads to less costs of health care, more personal productivity, longer and healthier lives for patients, and also will decrease pain and suffering of patients. Thus, the aim of this integrative review was to identify the barriers and facilitators of research utilization among the world and the best strategies used to overcome the barriers. A literature search was conducted by viewing relevant studies via computerized searching through EBSCO, Medline, Science Direct, Pub Med, Ovid, and Arabic Journals research databases. The number of reviewed studies was 192 and all of them in English, no studies in Arabic. Only 26 of them were selected based on inclusion criteria. Twenty six studies were included, with most using a cross-sectional survey design. The most identified barriers are lack of time, inadequate facilities and resources to implement new ideas, no enough authority to implement new ideas, lack of administrative support and others, while the most identified suggested that facilitators are improving the scientific knowledge of nurses and support from unit managers. The majority of these studies used Barriers scale which is not a standardized tool. However, there is a big gap between real situation and the identified evidences resulted from researches.