Changing the Publication Culture From "Nice to Do" to "Need to Do": Implications for Nurse Leaders in Acute Care Settings.

Problem: Nurses in clinical settings often generate innovative practice ideas to inform their practice and improve patient outcomes. Yet, few publish and share these innovations with a wider audience. Barriers impeding clinical nurses from writing for publication include discomfort with writing, lack of time, and scarce resources.

Methods: A qualitative study was designed to determine obstacles and facilitators to writing for publication. Interviews were conducted with five clinical nurses who had recently published in peer-reviewed journals.

Findings: Three themes emerged from the data: culture of "nice to do," personal motivation, and writing experiences. Findings from the study offer implications for nurse leaders to help increase publication efforts by clinical nurses in acute care settings.

Conclusion: Nurse leaders can promote publication by clinical nurses through three main strategies: create a culture that supports publication, offer incentives to motivate nurses to publish and reward those who do publish, and provide writing experiences that facilitate writing for publication.