Balancing practice and theory in the OR
Swedish OR nurses’ preventive interventions to reduce bacterial growth and SSIs, and to increase comfort in patients undergoing surgery
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What better way to tackle OR challenges than to solve the problems observed in practice yourself? Combining the theory and practical observations, one clinician studied and shares her findings about preventive interventions in the OR.
In this podcast, OR nurse Camilla Wistrand introduces four studies she conducted around preventive interventions in the OR.
Listen to the episode:
Practice to theory and back again
Issues in everyday OR practice piqued questions and hypotheses that led to theory and research studies aimed to improve practice.
Reducing SSI risk and increasing patient comfort
From the use of preheated skin disinfection to bacterial moisture growth under sets of double gloves in surgery, the research finds that:
- Patient comfort can be increased
- Simple measures can be taken to reduce the risk of cross contamination for patients
Double gloving as standard Camilla’s survey study found that 73% of nurses polled always use double gloves. Double gloving offers protection for yourself and even more so protection for patients, who are not awake during procedures and entrust OR staff to take care of them.
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Resources:
- Wistrand Camilla. Swedish operating room nurses’ preventive interventions to reduce bacterial growth and surgical site infections, and to increase comfort in patients undergoing surgery 2017. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1136191/FULLTEXT01.pdf
- Wistrand et al. Exploring bacterial growth and recolonization after preoperative hand disinfection and surgery between operating room nurses and non-health care workers: a pilot study. BMC Infectious Diseases 2018;18:466 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-018-3375-3
