The Canadian nurse
-
In 2003, the Canadian Association of Advanced Practice Nurses (CAAPN), with an educational grant from Purdue Pharma Canada, conducted a web-based survey to examine the pain management practices of advanced practice nurses (APNs). The survey objectives were to explore the role of APNs with respect to the treatment of pain, to determine the extent of their influence over treatment outcomes of patients with pain and to ascertain their level of knowledge of controlled-release pain medication. ⋯ Other results support the current literature that identifies lack of knowledge, education and experience as barriers to pain management practice, influencing the decision to prescribe pain medication. APNs need the tools to develop and implement effective pain management plans for their patients.
-
Barriers to implementing research in clinical nursing practice have long been a concern, both to the nursing profession and to managers involved in the delivery of optimal, evidence-based and cost-effective patient care. In this article, American, Australian and Canadian studies of nurses' perceptions of these barriers are reviewed. The author then presents the findings of her study of perceptions of the barriers to research implementation in a sample of 25 nursing professionals in Ontario. ⋯ Participants rated setting characteristics as the most important barrier to research utilization. They rated nurse characteristics as relatively less important, although the results did raise a question about nurses' possible externalization or abdication of responsibility. The author makes a number of recommendations to address these perceived barriers.