• Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, Tracey Bullock, Jacqueline McGrath, Diana Jacobson, Stephanie Kelly, and Lisa Baba.
• Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona 85004, USA.
• J Perinat Neonatal Nurs. 2010 Jan 1; 24 (1): 74-80.

Background And PurposeMany interventions that have been supported as efficacious through research never make it to clinical practice to improve care and patient outcomes. Therefore, the purposes of this dissemination-implementation study were to determine (a) the impact of translating the evidence-based Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment (COPE) program for parents of premature infants into clinical practice on nurses' EBP (evidence-based practice) beliefs and implementation; (b) the best strategy for disseminating COPE into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), including evaluating the use of a COPE EBP mentor; and (c) barriers and facilitators to successful implementation of the COPE program.Subjects And MethodsThe subjects for this study were 81 (45%) out of 180 nurses from a 55-bed NICU of a large children's hospital located in the Southwest region of the United States. The nurses completed the EBP beliefs and EBP implementation scales at baseline and 6 months after a full-day workshop on COPE and EBP and introduction of the COPE program into the unit. Evaluations from the nurses assisted in the identification of barriers and facilitators that fostered implementation of COPE in the NICU.Findings And ConclusionsNurses in the 2 pods in which COPE was being implemented reported higher EBP beliefs and greater EBP implementation than did nurses in the non-COPE pods. The EBP mentor was instrumental in routine delivery of COPE to the parents. Strategies to accelerate the translation of efficacious interventions into clinical practice and to create cultures to support evidence-based care in healthcare systems are urgently needed.

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