Factors Facilitating Publication by Clinical Nurses in a Magnet® Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors that facilitate publication by clinical nurses in Magnet® hospitals.

BACKGROUND: The culture promoted by the Magnet Recognition Program® promotes nurses practicing in those settings to use, generate, and disseminate best practices. Successful and promising models of care and nursing practice are rarely disseminated beyond the organization where they are practiced. The questions persist: what barriers to writing for publication exist for clinical nurses, and how do we overcome them to advance emergent evidence?

METHODS: A focused ethnographic, multiple-case study design examined 5 well-published nurses with high levels of dissemination occurring outside the Magnet organization where they were employed.

RESULTS: Nurses in this study most often credited cognitive and behavioral factors for promoting publication. Although the organization encouraged peer-reviewed publication, there were limited environmental efforts to support efforts to publish in peer-reviewed journals by clinical nurses.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this case study call for more research on the multifaceted factors that promote publication by clinical nurses in the practice environment. Publication of research in peer-reviewed journals was supported by environmental influences of time to write, collaborative writing opportunities, and supportive and accurate guidance from editors.