Infection Prevention in the Operating Room: Survey Reveals Practice Breaches

We polled perioperative nurse managers to determine the infection prevention and control-related breaches they have witnessed or experienced, as part of our third annual survey. The responses have remained fairly consistent over the last three years, with operating room nurses reporting the top breaches as contaminating the sterile field, poor hand antisepsis, incorrect or insufficient patient skin prep, lack of or incorrect usage of personal protective equipment, and a number of other issues relating to traffic control and OR cleanliness.