Bridging the Cap between Nursing Theory and Practice: The Contribution of Research

It is generally accepted that a wide gap exists between Theory, Research, and Practice in the field of nursing. The literature review conducted for the purpose of this paper revealed that there are a number of different factors, which cause the above gap. These, are lack of nurses appropriately prepared for teaching, lack of appropriate educational programmes, lack of continuous education, inadequate methods of learning, lack of nursing staff, a great number of nursing students, the policy of each hospital, and the difficulty in applying effectively the research findings in the practice of nursing.
The purpose of the present paper is to explore the relation between theory, research and practice in nursing, and indicate the factors, which cause this gap. Additionally, there are made a number of proposals, in order to improve the gap between theory and practice, and a specific referral is made to the multidimensional model of connection between
theory and practice. Finally, it is pointed out the significant contribution of research in bridging the gap between theory and practice, and particularly the role of nurses, nursing managers, and teaching staff in the achievement of the above goal.

Keywords: Nursing Theory, Research, Practice, Bndging, gap