study of the impact of using electronic mail to disseminate nursing research on nurses' perceptions of barriers to research utilization

Bridging the gap between the extant body of nursing research and clinical staff at the patient bedside remains a current problem, despite almost two decades of studies. This study examined the impact of using electronic mail to disseminate nursing research on nurses' perceptions of barriers to research utilization. The BARRIERS Scale tool was used to measure the nurses' perceptions of barriers to research utilization. Forty subjects, from a one-thousand bed Medical Center, comprised the sample. The design for this study was pre-test and post-test design involving a treatment and control group. The treatment consisted of four summarized research articles disseminated via electronic mail (E-mail), over a four week time period. An existing hospital information system E-mail was used to disseminate the research synopsis. This study's use of an E-mail system to deliver research synopsis proved successful in decreasing the nurses' perceptions of barriers to research utilization.