Barriers in implementing Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in UAE

The purpose of this study was to analyze and assess the nurses' perceived barriers to Evidence Based Practice (EBP) implementation in Al Ain hospitals. The setting of this study takes place in two major private hospitals in Al Ain city- United Arab Emirates. A descriptive, cross-sectional research study was conducted in 2014 with a non-random convenient sample of 88 nurses (40% of the target population) at two major private hospitals in Al Ain- United Arab Emirates. The response rate was 63%. The survey used in this study was the BARRIERS Scale which was developed by Funk, Champagne, Wiese and Tornquist (1991b). The results of the study indicated that the greatest barrier to Evidence Based Practice implementation was "Physicians will not cooperate with implementation". This barrier pertains to the characteristics of the setting factors. The next greatest barrier was from the presentation factor characteristic, "The research is not reported clearly and readably". The third and the fourth greatest barriers had the same mean. These two were "Research reports/articles are not readily available" and "Administration will not allow implementation".