Journal reading habits of registered nurses.

The rapidly escalating patient acuity level in today's acute care hospitals demands greater specialization and more advanced clinical nursing skills. Professional nursing journals are an excellent source of continuing education and practical clinical update. We designed a descriptive study to determine registered nurses' use of current nursing periodicals. A 26-item questionnaire was used. Respondents were 507 full-time RNs employed in two metropolitan hospitals. Ninety-three percent of the RNs felt that information in journals helps them in their practice, and 68% subscribed to professional nursing journals. Eighty-eight percent agreed they needed to read journals in order to keep up. Articles of clinical interest were the most widely read sections, and the most frequent reason given for not reading was lack of time.