Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the knowledge levels of operating room nurses on evidence
based practices to prevent surgical site infections.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out between 01.04.2018 and 15.05.2018 with nurses
working in the operating theater unit of state and university hospitals in Zonguldak province. The questionnaire
created by the researcher in the light of the literature was consisted of 44 questions, 11 questions including
sociodemographic data and 33 questions, which can get minimum 0 point and maximum 33 points, questioning
about evidence-based practices to prevent surgical site infections. The item reliability analysis of the questionnaire
was calculated to be 0,70 with Cronbach alpha. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics as well as Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test.
Results: According to the data obtained from the study, the information score means of the nurses’ knowledge
about the evidence –based practices to prevent surgical site infections was found to be 22,05±3,53 (min:10,
max:32). It was determined that the average age of the nurses participating in the study was 38,29±9,00 and the
majority of the nurses had a bachelor's degree with 63,2%. It was reported that 75,4% of the nurses worked in the
operating room unit for 6 or more years and 77,2% of nurses worked as scrub and circulating nurses. It was
reported that all nurses were trained on surgical site infections and that in-service training constituted 66,7% of the
education. 64,9% of the nurses think that they are working with evidence-based practices in the hospital. No
statistically significant difference was found between the demographical characteristics and the nurses'
information score means.
Conclusion: The study showed that operating room nurses had moderate level knowledge about the evidencebased practices for prevention of surgical site infections.