ABSTRACT
To explore nurses' perception of barriers to research utilization. A descriptive study was implemented. A total of 243 registered nurses in a public hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was selected using convenience sampling during the first quarter of 2013. The 29-item BARRIERS scale was used. The top 5 items were rated as great or moderate barriers were either setting- or nurse-related: 'insufficient time to implement new ideas' [n=157, 64.6%]; 'nurse sees little benefit for self [n=150, 61.7%]; 'nurse does not feel she/he has enough authority to change patient care procedures' [n=l46 60.1%]; 'nurse is isolated from knowledgeable colleagues' [n=l45; 59.7%]; and 'nurse does not have time to read research' [n=l43, 58.8%].Setting- and nurse-related items comprised the top 5 barriers. Motivation issues, and knowledge-translation issues appeared to be the themes drawn from this study. Further studies using both quantitative and qualitative methods are needed