Abstract

Background: The failure to connect the knowledge gained through academic study and research with practical application is known as the theory-practice gap and is a well- documented global issue, which hinders the ability of nurses to apply academic knowledge effectively in clinical settings and leads to the various problems.
Research Methodology: 151 nurses who worked at the public and private hospitals in Bahawalpur, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, were the sample for this cross-sectional descriptive research study. A convenient sampling technique was used to choose the participants, and IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0.1 was used for analysis after a close ended questionnaire was used to gather data.
Results: Demographic data result of 151 nurses sampled include 86 female nurses (57.0 %) and 64 male nurses ( 43.0 %). The majority of respondents were aged 21-30 years (90.6 %), with a smaller proportion aged 31-40 years (8.6 %) and above. In terms of education, 19.2% were General Nurses (RN), 17.9 % were Post-RN, and 62.9 % were BSN-Generic. Regarding the awareness of the theory-practice gap, 90.1 % percent of nurses score greater than 80 % and 9.9 % score less than 50 %, its means that most of the participants fall in the excellent knowledge score.However 41.1% believed that the gap was fundamentally good , while 58.9% believed that the gap was fundamentally not good.
Conclusion: This study highlights the significant theory-practice gap that nurses  of public and private hospitals in Bahawalpur, encounter. The findings indicate that the primary causes of the gap are a lack of curriculum modifications, insufficient resources, and a lack of collaboration between clinical settings and training facilities. Despite the fact that most nurses are aware of the gap, there are differing views on its consequences and potential solutions.