Nurses’ knowledge of surgical site infection prevention and surgical safety checklist

Abstract

Objective: to assess surgical center nurses’ knowledge regarding surgical site infection prevention measures during the perioperative period and the surgical safety checklist. Method: a cross-sectional study was conducted with 30 nurses working in surgical centers of 30 large hospitals in Minas Gerais, Brazil, between February 2018 and April 2019. Results: regarding perioperative measures, 60% of nurses reported performing trichotomy in surgical centers, with 36.7% using blades; 60.9% indicated adequate surgical hand preparation for surgeons; 10% were unaware of procedures for preparing patients’ skin; and 70% did not implement the practice of warming patients. Concerning the checklist, 93.3% stated they were familiar with it, but the team introduction was only performed by 53.3%. The time-out procedure was executed by 86.7%, while surveillance criteria for surgical site infection were unknown to 93.3%. Conclusion: limitations were identified in nurses’ knowledge of measures during the intraoperative period, especially regarding trichotomy, preparation of patients’ and surgeons’ skin, and patient warming. In the checklist stages and items, gaps were observed in team introduction and time-out procedure execution, as well as in the criteria for diagnosing surgical site infection.