Perioperative nurses’ experiences in relation to surgical patient safety: A qualitative study

Abstract

Surgical patient safety remains a concern worldwide as, despite World Health Organization recommendations and implementation of its Surgical Safety Checklist, adverse events continue to occur. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the views and experiences of perioperative nurses regarding the factors that impact surgical patient safety. Data were collected through five focus groups involving a total of 50 perioperative nurses recruited from four public hospitals in Spain. Content analysis of the focus groups yielded four main themes: personal qualities of the perioperative nurse, the surgical environment, safety culture, and perioperative nursing care plans. One of the main findings concerned barriers to the exercise of leadership by nurses, especially regarding completion of the Surgical Safety Checklist. Some of the key factors that impacted the ability of perioperative nurses to fulfil their duties and ensure patient safety were the stress associated with working in the operating room, time pressures, and ineffective communication in the multidisciplinary team.Targeting these aspects through training initiatives could contribute to the professional development of perioperative nurses and reduce the incidence of adverse events by enhancing the surgical safety culture.

Operating room nurses’ experience about patient cares for laparotomy surgeries: A phenomenological study

“…[ 28 29 ] Peñataro-Pintado et al . (2021)[ 30 ] reported that some of the key issues that affected the perioperative nurses’ ability to achieve their duties and guarantee patient safety were the stress of working in the operating room, unsuccessful announcement in the multidisciplinary group, and time pressures.…”

Development and Validation of a Questionnaire of the Perioperative Nursing Competencies in Patient Safety

“…Also, a detailed analysis of the instrument was reported to promote its use. Thus, we are making a contribution to the previous work by the EORNA [ 18 , 21 ] through the creation of a questionnaire that was designed by perioperative nurses and experts in the area of safety.…”

“…In the first round, the theoretical framework of the EORNA was adopted [ 17 ], and five focus groups were developed with perioperative nurses from Spain, which dealt with key aspects of surgical patient safety [ 18 ] between June 2017 and February 2018.…”

Relationship Between Nurse-Nurse Collaboration and Patient Safety Culture

“…One of the most important ways to improve safety culture and minimize medical errors is teamwork. A study found that the best way to increase patient safety culture is clear, effective communication and teamwork (Peñataro-Pintado et al, 2020). In a study using reports from 29,747 nurses, researchers found that the level of collaboration in a unit had a significant impact on nurse job satisfaction and turnover intention, and quality of care; and it was emphasized that this relationship is independent of nurses' employee characteristics and organizational characteristics (Ma, Shang & Bott, 2015).…”