Approach of the operating room nurses to ethical issues: Aqualitative study

The research aimed to investigate the ethical issues experienced by operating room nurses and their approaches to these issues. It was designed as a qualitative study using the phenomenological approach and conducted with ten operating room nurses in a public hospital located in Zonguldak between May and June 2023, by in-depth interview technique. Data were collected through the Introduction Characteristics Form and semi-structured interview form. Thematic analysis method was used to establish themes and codes. Through the implementation of the semi-structured interview form and in-depth interviews with the ten operating room nurses, their approaches to ethical issues in the operating room, the situations that affected them and coping strategies for these situations were evaluated based on the responses provided. As a result of thematic analysis, four themes and corresponding codes for these themes were formulated. In line with the answers given by ten operating room nurses, who were interviewed in depth by applying a semi-structured interview form, the approach to ethical problems in the operating room, the situations affected and the strategies to cope with these situations were evaluated. In this direction, four themes and their codes were created as a result of thematic analysis. In the research conducted with the qualitative method, four themes and 16 codes were created. These themes are; protection of autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance, professional respect, and managerial factors. In this study, ethical problems faced by operating room nurses and their approaches to ethical problems were evaluated. It is known that providing care at the highest standards is closely related to nurses' strict adherence to ethical principles. It was determined that the operating room nurses had problems in providing autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance, ethical codes. Keywords: Operating room nursing, Ethics, Ethical issues.