Research provides the essential foundations for best nursing practice but the merger of research and practice is still problematic as nurses are said to not value or understand research. It is recommended that research should be promoted during nurse undergraduate education. Instead of blaming nurses for the research practice gap we should try to understand the environment in which nurses work. Research teams that bridge educational and clinical settings have proven effective and have the potential to both reduce the workload and highlight to clinical nurses and hospital administrators the importance of research in the promotion of optimal nursing care.