Use of the surgical safety checklist in the operating room: Operating room nurses’ perspectives

Abstract

Objective: To determine the opinions of operating room nurses towards the Surgical Safety ChecklistTR (SSCTR) and to determine applications for using SSCTR in operating rooms. Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 102 nurses working in the operating rooms of a state hospital and a university hospital in the Afyonkarahisar province. Descriptive statistics method were used for data analysis. Results: It was found that all operating room nurses knew the SSCTR and that they had a positive opinion regarding the necessity of the SSCTR. However, most of the participants stated that the SSCTR was not applied effectively in the operating room. Conclusion: The results obtained from the study show that changes focusing on the development of a culture of patient safety (PS) and team collaboration in operating rooms must be made in order to apply SSCTR consistently and properly.