A strategy for raising research awareness among midwives

There is increasing pressure on health care professionals to ensure that clinical practice is based on sound research evidence. Midwives and nurses face a number of obstacles in trying to achieve this. In this paper we describe a strategy which has been developed to try to increase research awareness and overcome some of the obstacles associated with both using and doing research. The strategy focuses on four main areas: education and training; access to facilities; changing the climate/culture and practice; and policy and documentation.