Intraoperative prevention of Surgical Site Infections as experienced by operating room nurses

Abstract

Aim : This study examines how OR nurses experience intraoperative prevention of SSIs. Introduction : Infections related to surgical procedures create both great patient suffering and high costs for society. Therefore, prevention of Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) should be a high priority for all surgical settings. All details of intraoperative care need to be investigated and evaluated to ensure best practices are evidence-based. Methods : This study uses the Reflective Lifeworld Research (RLR) approach, which is grounded in phenomenology. Participants were OR nurses with at least one year of clinical experience. In total, 15 participants from seven hospitals made contact and were included in this interview study. Results : Prevention of SSIs takes both head and hand. It requires long-term, continuous, and systematic work in several parallel processes, both intellectually and organisationally. The hierarchical tradition of the operating room is often ambiguous, shielded by its safe structures but still restricted by traditional patterns. Confident relations and resolute communication within the team generate favorable conditions for preventing SSIs. Conclusions : By setting up mutual platforms and forums for quality development, increasing legitimacy for OR nurses and establishing fixed teams, prevention of SSIs will continue to improve, ensuring the patients’ safety during intraoperative care.

Harmful factors at the workplace of an operating nurse

“…This is where important decisions about the life and health of the patient are often made. People working here must not only be competent in terms of knowledge and skills, but also physically and mentally strong [7]. Surgical nursing is a separate nursing specialty, whose representatives study, analyze and solve problems related to providing efficient nursing assistance for surgery, with the sense of safety and preservation of personal dignity of patients staying in the operating theatre and other problems resulting from the specificity of the work of surgical nurses.…”

“…Clinical work in the operating room is dynamic, complex, and often limited in time and resources. Assisting with procedures requires staff to have technical and cognitive skills such as anticipating patient needs, managing change, and dealing with unexpected events [7,8,9,10].…”

Enfermagem no contexto da infecção da ferida cirúrgica: revisão integrativa

“…A falta de conhecimento acerca do risco de resistência culminou no rápido aumento da resistência aos antibióticos 17 . A resistência antimicrobiana contribui de forma significativa para as ISC, onde cerca de 38,7 a 50,9 dos microrganismos cultivados em ISC se mostram resistentes aos antibióticos convencionaismicrorganismos resistentes a um ou mais agentes antimicrobianos são chamados de organismos resistentes às múltiplas drogas 16 .…”

Covering surgical instruments with single- or double-layer drape pending surgery: an experimental study in a perioperative setting

“…Perioperative care needs to investigate every way of keeping the operating room (OR) environment, and especially the surgical instruments, as contamination-free as possible in order to ensure patient safety with regard to SSIs ( Meeks et al, 2011 ). OR nurses in the surgical team, in particular, are responsible for minimising the environmental risks of SSI ( Qvistgaard et al, 2019 ), so properly trained and evaluated registered nurses (RN) increase patient safety and quality of care. Therefore, evidence-based perioperative care is needed for safe care.…”

“…These practices are essential for keeping the surgical environment as contamination-free as possible. However, as airborne particulates inside an OR are an invisible threat, it is difficult to manage ( Qvistgaard et al, 2019 ). Moreover, managing risks that are not immediately a threat in an OR is not always prioritised in complex or acute care situations.…”