Views of operating room nurses regarding patient and staff safety in operating room

This study was conducted in order to determine opinions of nurses working at operating room regarding patient and staff safety and the factors that affect these opinions in a descriptive way. Universe of the study consisted of nurses working in operating rooms of state hospitals that have quality certification in Ankara. The sample consisted of 100 nurses. Data was collected by a questionnaire. Frequencies, mean, standard deviation, percentage and chi-square test were used to evaluate data. The nurses have expressed that the most factors affecting patient safety in the operating room were; the risk of infection (50%), defects related to patient transportation (50%), lack of correct patient, correct side, correct surgery (35%) and the factors affecting the staff safety were; cutting-drilling-burning device injuries (needle, scalpel, cautery, etc.) (44%), exposure to diseases transmitted with blood / body fluids / respiratory system (41%), fatigue and deficiency in attention (41%). Also they stated the factors threatening the patient safety and arising from operating environment were; inappropriate operating room temperature, ventilation and lighting (48%), uncomfortable and unsuitable operating rooms for surgical teams (36%). Nurses stated that surgical equipment and medical devices should be properly sterilized and disinfected to reduce the risk of infection in the operating room, (60%); arm band, bracelet, identification card, etc. should be used to confirm the identity of the patient (58%) and team members should be indulgent and tolerant to improve the in-team communication (50%). It was determined that some features of nurses such as work place, working time in the operating room and training in-service affected the opinions regarding patient and staff safety (p<0.05) (Bkz. Ek-6).Key Words: Patient safety, staff safety, operating room, nurse