Investigation of knowledge levels related legal responsibilities of operating room nurses in public hospitals

The right to health as an extension of the right to life states a fundamental right of people to get the highest attainable standards of health, in a manner without any discrimination. Health services that are offered for this purpose are developing day by day. The rapid reflections of technological developments on health services require healthcare professionals to capture the age at the same pace and operating theatres are the health areas that are most affected by technological developments. Nurses who take part in every stage of Health Service presentation take more responsibility every day to adapt to the technological developments and perform contemporary nursing roles as a member of the surgical team in the operating rooms. In the operating theaters which are the one of the most vulnareble places for the patients, the fact that the nurse's advocacy role is in the forefront and that the institutional policies support the latter ensures that the patients benefit from the right to health in a manner that is worthy of human dignity. The duty and responsibility process that starts with the patient entering the operating room is capable of giving rise to the legal responsibility of the nurse at every step till to the exit of the patient. Patient safety incidents such as falls, retained foreign bodies and loss of the surgical tissue are some of the events that may lead to the legal responsibilities of the operating room nurses. Operating room nurses working in public hospitals should know their duties,vii rights and responsibilities, but they should also know the legal consequences of their defective actions. In this study, we investigated the level of knowledge about the legal responsibilities of the operating room nurses working in public hospitals for whom defective actions may lead severe consequences for both patients and themselves. In our data collection tool, we have identified four different levels of information. We organized these fields as malpractice-complication discrimination, duties, authority and responsibility, Administrative Law responsibility and Criminal Law responsibility. In the first part, we included the basic concepts about the four levels of knowledge that we have identified. In part two, we shared our findings and then presented our results and suggestions in line with them. Keywords: Operating Room Nursing, Public Hospitals, Malpractice, Legal Responsibility, Level of Knowledge.