Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to explore nurses' access and use of information resources and to identify the barriers and competency to evidence based practice (EBP). This study used descriptive method to identify baseline data for the purpose of developing strategies for establishing EBP in clinical nursing practice.
METHODS
Participants in this study were 278 nurses from five hospitals in Daegu and Kyungsangbukdo. The data were collected by self administered questionnaires and SPSS/WIN 15.0 program was used to analyze the data with descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and ANOVA.
RESULTS
Nurses reported *most frequently using paper and human resources. The mean score of barriers was 3.02+/-0.41, and competency was 2.70+/-0.50. The reported competency was correlated with nurse factors (r=-.31, p<.001) organization factors (r=-.20, p<.001) and research factors (r=-.12, p<.040) as the barriers to evidence based practice.
CONCLUSION
To promote competency in EBP and to decrease the barriers, it would be necessary to develop the organizational culture that encourages nurses to be involved in research activities. In addition, the development of systemic methods to introduce and establish an education program for facilitating EBP in the clinical settings is needed.