The sample of nurses, in this study, demonstrated enthusiasm for
research in their zeal for higher education and their involvement in
research activities. They saw this as leading them to becoming valuable
team members to improve patient care. This high level of enthusiasm
for research was evident by the nurses' participation in the
research seminar, at their own cost and time, as well as in their willingness
to participate in the current research. The high enthusiasm
for research as the characteristic feature of the participants in this
study might not be that of every nurse in Singapore.
The critical argument demonstrates that even though these nurses
held a strong enthusiasm for research, this did not help in breaking
down the barriers of organisational constraints. In this regard, unless
the organisational-cultural barriers are reviewed, the development of
analytical research skills will not necessarily lead to evidential usage
(Rycroft-Malone, 2008). Other than having introduced research as
part of the nursing curricula, there is a need for education which
has the ability to impact upon the organisational culture to start driving
leadership and organisational effectiveness forward (Joyce, 2009).
These changes would be influential in enabling nurses to conduct
clinical research so that it becomes part of normal practice in clinical
nursing. This would in turn, enable nurses to draw upon research support
from employers and colleagues in both nursing and non-nursing
disciplines naturally without the need of any conscious effort. In essence,
problematic issues are not isolated to nurses in Singapore,
but are a worldwide phenomenon which requires a paradigm shift
in organisational culture. If this shift does not occur McNicholl et al.(2008) suggest that evidence based practice cannot flourish and there
will continue to be limited research input by nurses as direct care
givers to inform practice.