Orthopaedic nurses' attitudes towards clinical nursing research – A cross-sectional survey

The call for evidence-based knowledge in clinical nursing practice has increased during recent decades and research in orthopaedic nursing is needed to improve patients' conditions, care and treatment. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the self-perceived theoretical knowledge and practical research competencies among orthopaedic nurses and their interest and motivation to increase these in everyday practice. A newly developed questionnaire was given to a convenience sample of 87 orthopaedic nurses. Forty three orthopaedic nurses (49.4%) completed the questionnaire. The results indicated that despite the majority of orthopaedic nurses having low self-perceived theoretical knowledge and practical research competencies, their interest and motivation to improve these were high, especially their inner motivation. However, the nurses' inner motivation was inhibited by a lack of acceptance from colleagues and section head nurses and a shortage of time. This study forms a baseline as a part of a larger study and contributes knowledge useful to other orthopaedic departments with an interest in optimizing nursing research to improve orthopaedic nursing care quality.