Nurses' Compliance with Surgical Safety Protocols for Patients Having Abdominal Surgery in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Surgical safety practices, which are designed to enhance adherence to evidence-based safety practices, communication, and teamwork during critical time points such as during surgical procedures, before induction of anesthesia, before incision, and before the patient leaves the room, can completely prevent patient safety events in the operating room. Aim of the study: Assessing nurses' compliance with surgical safety protocols for patients undergoing abdominal surgery was the goal of this study.
Methods and subjects: Design: To accomplish the goal of this study, a descriptive exploratory research design was employed.
Setting: a university-affiliated hospital in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) operating departments served as the study's sites. Study participants: The study includes a convenient sample of 150 nurses from the aforementioned departments, representing all available nurses. Data collecting instruments: The two sections of the surgical safety standards questionnaire and the demographic details of the nurses under study were used to conduct this study.
Results: According to the study's findings, nurses primarily followed the guidelines for preventing incorrect surgical procedures, incorrect patient procedures, and incorrect sites, as well as for enhancing efficient communication among medical staff. This study presented that less than half of the studied scrub nurses and only minority of the circulating nurses and anesthesia nurses had competent practices at the operating room respectively.
Conclusion: The study found that while there were no statistically significant relationships between the competent practices of anesthesia nurses, their gender, and training course attendance, there were statistically significant relationships between the competent practices of scrub nurses and their attendance of surgical safety training courses, as well as between the competent practices of circulating nurses and their age and years of experience.