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Over the past 20 years evidence-based decision-making has become a key ingredient to providing quality nursing care. The use of evidence-based decision-making in nursing was first demonstrated by the research utilization movement in the 1990’s as nursing developed strategies to apply research evidence to nursing practice. At the turn of the century, evidence-based practice in nursing evolved as the key to promote positive patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness while ensuring accountability and transparency. Evidence-based practice in nursing combines empirical research, expert opinion, best practices, patient preferences, and other sources of data to provide high quality patient care. Evidence-based practice in nursing has been well received by many nursing specialties. However, its implementation in perinatal nursing is suspect. Many perinatal nursing practices are not evidence-based. One particular practice that is not evidence-based is directed pushing during the second-stage of labor. Over the last 50 years research has provided no evidence that directed pushing is either safe or effective. To the contrary there has been mounting evidence of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes related to directed pushing and improved maternal and neonatal outcomes with non-directed pushing. Why are labor and delivery nurse not utilizing evidence-based practice? Understanding why labor and delivery nurses have not adopted non-directed pushing in their practice is necessary for planning a successful change in practice. Several researchers have studied the barriers to implementation of evidence-based practice. These barriers have been identified as individual (physician, nurse, and patient/family), teams, leadership, organizational, research evidence, and the practice change itself. Whether these barriers are similar for the implementation of non-directed pushing is not completely clear. Uncovering the barriers to implementation of non-directed pushing will provide a significant step towards translation of this evidence-based practice to the bedside thereby improving maternal and neonatal outcomes. the participants reported several barriers to the nurse’s utilization of non-directed pushing during the second stage of labor. The barriers were similar both within and across the focus groups. Each focus group had representation from a minimum of three to a maximum of five institutions with 10 institutions being represented by the 36 participants. Each of the participants reported her perception of at least one barrier to implementation of non-directed pushing into her nursing practice. Every participant in each of the seven focus groups identified the concept of individual as a barrier. The participants further categorized the concept of the individual into categories. Three categories emerged from the data related to the concept of the individual: physician, nurse, and the patient/family unit. Subcategories were found in the data relating to each of the main categories. These subcategories were identified across all seven of the focus groups and included: control, change, education, time, and noise.