As part of an initiative to develop evidence-based practice at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, a three-part project was undertaken. The aims were to identify barriers to using research in nursing, establish a baseline of nurses’ knowledge and its influence on their practice in one essential area of nursing care - pressure damage prevention - and develop a strategy for change which took account of the findings from the first two parts of the project. In this article, the authors describe the second part of the project which examined nursing knowledge and practice with reference to the management of pressure damage prevention. The findings are discussed and the authors recommend that nurses integrate into their practice evidence from sources such as systematic reviews

In response to the Culyer initiative (NHSE 1997) to bring research and practice closer together and develop a culture of ‘evidence-based practice’ for nursing, researchers in Sheffield designed a study to identify the barriers to research utilisation and develop a strategy for change using pressure damage prevention. This formed the clinical topic in a trust-wide project at the Northern General Hospital Trust, Sheffield. This article describes the part of the project referring to the issues of pressure damage prevention.