Whilst nurses might be enthusiastic about conducting research as
they saw the importance and value of research in nurse professional
development and nursing practice for improved patient care, they
faced frustrations in terms of organisational culture and infrastructure
and suggested that management address these deficits and provide
and encourage research opportunities. The findings in this study
are disturbing given the fact that the concept of evidence-based practice
was introduced in the country a decade ago (Loke, 2001), presumably,
evidence based practice would have been embraced by
nurses with no boundary. Also, since the majority of the participants
in this study were employees of large teaching hospitals, large district
and private hospitals where clinical practice is research driven, support
for embracing the research culture should have been easily accessible
by nurses to advance nursing practice. In view of these
findings, there ought to be a significant need for a strong emphasis
on educational training about transferring research knowledge and
skills into practice settings. This is critical as the learning experience
about research in higher education should continue into nurses' continuing
employment. This calls for an urgent review of the existing
nursing curriculum as well as an organisational culture and infrastructure
so that acquired research knowledge and skills can be
utilised by newly developed enthusiastic researchers. The findings
also demonstrated that in places where organisational support was
available, awareness of such opportunities for access to educational
and organisational support needed to be made equitable and transparent.
This in turn would enable more nurses especially those who
are highly enthusiastic about conducting research, to be able to do
so within the context of the competing nursing practice demands