Aseptic practice recommendations for circulating operating theatre nurses

Abstract

Aseptic practices prevent microbial exposure to a surgical wound, operating theatre environment, and personnel. The circulating nurse assists the operating theatre personnel and supervises aseptic practices preventing surgical site infections. In the absence of analytical tools, few studies exist on intra-operative nursing-related aseptic practices. This study introduces a tool to assess the role of the circulating nurse towards aseptic practices. We used international recommendations and research findings to construct a 20-item self-report instrument with a demonstrated reliability across the scale. We structured the scale based on the establishment, maintenance, and disestablishment of a sterile operating field. We tested the tool among operating theatre and day-surgery nurses, and compared the differences in the mean acceptance rates of aseptic practice recommendations based on background characteristics. College-level nurses and nurses with 15 years or more work experience accepted the recommendations at higher levels than bachelor’s-level nurses and nurses with less work experience. Continual assessment of the evidence base and comprehensive evaluation represent important components in further developing the tool. A reasonable number of items covering clinical practice are necessary for assessing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of aseptic practices and a larger response rate is needed to validate the tool in future.