Integrating Research into Practice

In 1997, nurses in the Metro Region division of Aurora Health Care (Aurora-Metro) in eastern Wisconsin initiated a project directed toward ensuring the consistent incorporation of research into individual nursing practices in order to secure best practice at all sites. By fully integrating research into work, it ensures that nursing practice is clearly and unequivocally evidence-based. The goals of this project were twofold: to build on our collective nursing research expertise and accomplishments, and to share such information on an ongoing basis throughout Aurora-Metro's network. The Aurora-Metro division consists of five hospitals and numerous other sites, which together employ more than 2,700 nurses. Aurora-Metro nurse leaders developed a five-year plan for conducting and using nursing research. It allowed for the participation of nurses at all levels and in all settings and established as objectives the use of multidisciplinary and nursing research findings in the care of patients with life-threatening illnesses who require acute care, and the promotion of health maintenance through broadly replicable interventions. In 1998, the plan was officially implemented. Describes the variety of strategies used to integrate research into practice. (Quotes from original text)