CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Currently, a 10- to 15-year gap exists between discovery of potential innovations and implementation of these innovations into nursing pract ice. The Retrieval and Application of Research in Nursing (RARIN) proj ect is helping to reduce this gap in one western hospital. The goal of RARIN is to improve the quality of nursing care by facilitating the t ransfer of new and clinically relevant nursing information to current practice. This is accomplished by providing nurses with both the tools and training for rapid retrieval of scientific information. Their wor k areas have been electronically linked with local, national, and inte rnational scientific information systems.