BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY TO ENGAGE IN RESEARCH UTILIZATION

The Orange County Research Utilization in Nursing (OCRUN) Project deve loped a regional network of nursing service organizations (NSOs) with a shared commitment to building organizational capacity to engage in r esearch use. Over 3 years, 20 nursing service and 6 academic instituti ons participated in the OCRUN Project, sending 374 nurses to tiered OC RUN continuing education courses that focused on role-specific researc h utilization competency development. The project influenced nut se ex ecutives' perceptions of organizational readiness for change and catal yzed changes in strategic goals, accountability, and resources, ultima tely influencing each NSO's reported research utilization processes an d outcomes. Recommendations stemming from the OCRUN Project address po tential NSO strategies to enhance research use.