Role of Nurses in Surgical Care: Challenges and Solutions

This report discusses the role of nurses in surgical care, including their responsibilities in pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative phases. It also evaluates contemporary challenges in surgical care, such as communication gaps, resource management, and patient safety. Additionally, the report explores the grand nursing theory and its application in nursing practice. Finally, the report suggests implementing solutions to minimize issues, such as improving the quality of practice and bringing innovation in nursing care delivery.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Own role relating to care of the surgical patient..........................................................................3
Contemporary challenges in surgical care...................................................................................6
Theory in relation to learning from incidents and executing solutions to reduce the likelihood.8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Nursing comes under healthcare sector and is the profession. Nurses provide care to
individuals and communities in order to maintain quality of life. They deal with patients and help
them to get recovered from diseases. Nurses also provide treatment to their patients so that they
can easily recovered. To become nurse an individual has to take degree in nursing and also have
to develop necessary skills which is required to become nurse (Grabowski and Mor, 2020).
Nurses plays important role in health care system. They also help doctors by acting as assistant in
the surgery. Nurses deals with the patient directly. So with effective communication they can
explain to patent about treatment and why it is important to them. Nurses diagnose health related
issues and give treatment to the patients. This report will discuss about role of nurses in relation
to care of surgical patient. Further will evaluate contemporary challenges in surgical care. This
report will also discuss theory relating to learning and providing solutions to reduce the
likelihood of occurring.
MAIN BODY
Own role relating to care of the surgical patient.
Here the job role is of nurse. Nurses are having very important role in taking care of
patients. Nurses who take care of surgical patients is called surgical nurse or theatre nurse.
Surgical nurse take care of the patient when they are going for the surgery and they even care of
patients before and after surgery also. In order to become surgical nurse, nurses has to take extra
training. There are various areas on which these nurses should focus on and that is completely
dependent on their area of interest. In the period of surgery there comes various situations where
nurses has to support patients, assisting surgeons or surgical technicians or nurse practitioners
etc. before surgery nurses have to prepare patient and also preparing surgery room. While the
surgery is going on at that time also nurses are required so that they can assist surgeons if
needed. So this is the pre operative phase (Kaehne, 2018). After that other phase comes which is
post operative phase. At this phase nurses provide treatments and care to the patients. In order to
become surgical nurses an individual has to take admission in the nursing school and also has to

take specialisation in surgical nursing. Nursing practices are different at both level. As at surgical
wards it is different as compare to medical wards.
There are various surgeries where surgical nurses are required. Like general surgery,
surgical oncology, day surgery, vascular surgery, urological surgery etc. nurses have to keep
patient information which is enrolled for surgery. Patient information consists of their private
information which involves their full name, guardian, contact details, previous health history etc.
after taking information from the patients then they have to do documentation in which nurses
guides them. Nurses is the staff which directly have conversation with the patients and also on
daily basis. So they should try to provide good environment to them so that they did not feel
stress of surgery. Going through surgery is not easy and mostly patients went into depression. So
nurses have to make sure that patients get such environment where they does not feel stress or
anxiety. It is also the duty of nurse only to make sure that consent form is filled by the patient
before taking them for surgery. Consent form is the formality which hospital do and in consent
form it is written that doctors will do their best and if also surgery went unsuccessful then
hospital and doctors are not responsible for that. On the consent form sign of the guardian of the
patient are taken. Surgical nurses are the part of the surgical team (Iula and et.al., 2020).
Every surgery have three level which includes preoperative, intraoperative and
postoperative. In the every step nursing care is required. Every phase consists of some activities
so it can be said that there are various skills which is needed in nursing stage. Surgical nurses
should have proper understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Nurses should interact with
patients and their families if needed. It is duty of nurse to provide all necessary information to
the patients and their family regarding surgery and surgical care. Surgical nurses have to provide
support and guidance to their patients. As patients are depressed before surgery. So nurses have
to motivate them by saying positive things so that they did not get nervous in operation theatre. It
is essential that nurses should have good communication skills so that they can properly
communicate with their patients as maintaining good relations with patients is very important.
Trusted relationship should be there between patients and nurses because if patient will trust
nurse then only he or she will be relieved that he or she is getting best treatment. But in order to
achieve trust in short time period is not easy. Before surgery there is very little time which
patient gets. So in this minimum time it gets difficult for nurses to provide all information to the
patient related to surgery.

There are patients which feels uncomfortable and got anxious before surgery so it is
important for surgical nurses to recognise needs of their patients so that they can provide needed
support. In order to know what are the needs of the patient, communication is vital. Nurses
should ask their patients if they are having problem because discussion will be helpful in solving
issues. Patients have various needs so those needs should be understood by nurses so that they
can provide good experience to the patients.
There are 6 C's of nursing value:
Care:
Care is the basic thing which nurses has to give to their patients. Care which is provided in the
hospital through nurses will helps an individual to feel better and it is also helpful in making
whole community healthy. On the basis of care patient decide that they have to choose which
hospital.
Compassion:
Compassion is the process which helps to know that how the care is provided on the basis of
dignity, empathy and respect. It can be also attached with kindness and people perspective can be
different in terms of care. Providing care is the duty of nurses but they should make sure that
they are providing care with proper respect and dignity. In the name of providing care nurses
cannot insult or hurt patient's sentiments.
Competence:
It means that all people which are engaged in providing caring activity and have caring roles
should have understand needs of their patients in terms of social and health needs. If nurses will
understand needs of their patients then only they can provide them help so that their needs can be
fulfilled. Nurses can provide better care and that is based on clinical knowledge and expertise. As
through proper expertise only they will understand needs of their patients.
Communication:
Communication is the main thing in order to make caring relationships successful and also
encourage effective team working. It also includes listening which is important because one
cannot make effective decisions without listening.
Courage:
courage means doing right thing for the people whom one is concern for so that is why it is said
that an individual should have always discuss if they are having any concern. So it can be said

that an individual have capacity to bring innovation and also introduce new ways of working
(Peck and et.al., 2017).
Commitment:
commitment is very important which surgical nurses gives to their patients. Surgical nurses or
any healthcare worker should have fulfil their commitment so that patients care and experience
can get improved. Necessary actions should be taken so that this can be made as a reality and
also social care challenges can be made.
Contemporary challenges in surgical care
To be a part of surgery to accompany surgery is itself a major challenge because there are
several responsibilities involved in being surgical nurses (General Surgery - Possible
Complications., 2021). As surgical nurses have to check and has to take all measures which can
be taken in surgical procedure in order to avoid any mishappening with the client. Here surgical
nurses went through both emotional and physical challenges. Example: if a patient comes for
treatment and he is having fracture then the treatment which is given for the fracture is the
physical challenge and healthcare workers also have to be very careful related to how much time
they are spending in surgical room. Emotional challenge can be related to stress which is their in
the healthcare workers about what will happen if the surgery goes wrong. On the basis of above
it can be said that safety of the patient is the most vital thing and is the challenge ( Schmidt and
Brown, 2019). As there are only general guidelines are given in order to handle patients but there
are no particular measures are given to handle specific patients. It is also observed that
communication is the most important thing in surgical care because lack of communication can
lead to confusion and conflicts. Communication gap in surgery can arise many problems.
Managing reactions of anaesthesia is also an issue as sometimes if it is not given in standard
dosage then can harm patients. So anaesthesia is the biggest challenge in surgical care.
Recovery is another issue. As after surgery healthcare workers has to check recovery of
patient. If the patient is recovering as per the expectation of doctors then there is no issue but
they patient is not recovering in expected time period then it is the issue as it denotes that surgery
has not done successful (Lemos, Poveda and Peniche, 2017). That is why patient is not
recovering as per expectation. In order to find out failure in recovery is not easy and is solely the
responsibility of surgical doctors and nurses if patient has not been recovered. Perioperative
stress is the kind of stress which includes anxiety, surgical stress and pain. Normally before

surgery patient went in such kind of stress. As surgery is not easy so before going through
surgical procedure patients get stress. There are various kinds of surgery and in each and every
surgery there are various issues. In order to identify those issues and providing solution to every
issue is the biggest challenge. Resource management is not an easy task. There are many
resources and equipments which are required in surgical care. In healthcare the size of
equipments are also small so in order to identify that there are proper resources available and to
monitor them is also an issue. When talking about patient safety then while doing surgery
doctors have to use knife, scissors and other instruments to do surgery it is very risky because
there is always fear if mistake as what will happen if the surgical blade goes wrong. Mostly
mistakes occurs when there is not proper communication between surgical team, patients and
their initial family members. Making delay in diagnosis can also bring various issues. Surgeon
frustration is also an issue which has to be overcome (Karaca and Durna, 2019).
Nowadays surgeons are experiencing less job satisfaction, as workloads has also
increased and work is also getting more complex. And surgeon role is also going vague as they
are no longer considered team captain every time. As there training did not prepare them to deal
with these challenges. As surgeons require life long commitment with learning, improving and
enhancing their interpersonal skills. All challenges which surgeon is facing is the reason of
frustration which they are going through. As above also discussed that anaesthesia is the issue if
not provided properly. There are even those kind of people who feel like vomiting after giving
them general anaesthesia. Patient even feel gas, sleeplessness, thirst etc after getting anaesthesia.
This is the discomfort which is faced in surgical care. Patient even went in shock after they have
entered in operation theatre. Then to operate such patients is very difficult. As to bring them out
from the state of shock is very difficult. It is complex and also time consuming. After discussing
all key challenges it can be said that patient safety is the vital and biggest challenge which is
faced while giving surgical care. There are various challenges which is associated before, after
and while doing surgery. Before surgery to make ready to the patient for surgery is itself a task.
There are patients who become unconscious just listening to that they have to go for surgery. In
operation theatre also patients did not get ready easily to take anaesthesia. After surgery also they
constantly complain about pain and recovery (Gabr and El-Shaer, 2020). So surgical nurses has
to go through various issues in every surgery.

As every patient is different so nurses have to deal differently to every patient. After
surgery often patient gets wound infection. It does not happens with every one but it can happen.
When bacteria get entered at the site of surgery then that can result into infection. Healing
process will get delayed by infection. Wound infections can reach to tissues and various organs.
As infection can arise new problem in the patient. Urinary retention is also an issue. After
surgery often patient gets problem to empty their bladder. Urinary retention can be treated by
inserting catheter so that bladder can get empty until patient gets bladder control back.
Pulmonary complications also occurred after surgery and in this patient is not able to breathe
properly. There symptoms are fever, chest pain, cough etc. as it is said that surgical care is not
easy and so its issues. So to understand issues and to solve the issues is not always easy.
Theory in relation to learning from incidents and executing solutions to reduce the likelihood.
Grand nursing theory:
This theory have wide scope and are often more complex (Johnson and et.al., 2021). So
that why more research is needed in order to get clarification. Grand nursing theory does not
provide knowledge of how to deal with specific nursing problems but provide general idea of
how to deal with various nursing issues if arises. As it gives general framework to nurses. As this
theory provide general and broad idea. So it can be said that major learning of nurses is done
through their own experiences and time. Nurses will learn with time as more they do practical
work then more they will going to learn. This theory is helpful in directing and guiding nurses in
specific situations. It involves conceptual framework which explains perspective of practice.
Implementing solutions to minimize issues:
Quality of practice:
As per this standard nurses have to improve their quality in delivering nursing activities. they
should also bring innovation in order to enhance nursing care delivery. Nurses should get
knowledge and must have continuous learning habit so that can get desired results. Quality
improvement is very necessary (NURSING STANDARDS., 2021). So nurses should have
participate in such activities. Major challenge which has discussed above is related to patient's
safety. As safety of patient is everything. After surgery and before surgery also patients faces
many issues. Infact while surgery is going at time also issues arises. Surgery stress is the
common issues. So nurses can help patient by providing them good quality of services so that
they did not stress while going for surgery.

Education:
There are various educational activities which takes place and that are also related with clinical
knowledge. By attending such activities will help them in getting professional knowledge and
that will help them in solving professional issues. Nurses should be committed with life long
learning. As medical is the field in which learning never stops. Getting skills and knowledge
which is essential in their practice setting (Salmond and Echevarria, 2017).
Collaboration:
In order to continue nursing practice nurses has to collaborate with the patient, his family etc.
here communication is must, nurses have to communicate with their patients on regular basis. As
communication will only provide clarity that what patient is feeling. After knowing proper
condition of patients only necessary care will be provided to them. Collaboration is very
important in order to achieve health goals. With cooperative and collaborative environment there
are less chances of making mistakes because care givers are helping each other. So if a nurse
faces any issue then they can discuss with their peers and get their issues solved.
Ethics:
Nurses must follow ethical provision while practising in all areas. There are code of ethics which
nurses have to obey while delivering their services. Maintaining professional patient-nurse
relationship is also important. Care should be provided in such a manner by taking care of
dignity and rights of patient. Getting respect is also the right of every patient. Nurses should have
report if they see any illegal and impaired practice. Confidential information of patients should
not get leaked. So nurses have to take care of that also. As personal information of patient is
important and if it gets leaked then it can cause harm or loss to the patients. So nurses has to
maintain secrecy.
Research:
In order to take practice decisions they should have search for research findings. There is
possibility that same situation has arise earlier also. So by studying about that what practitioner
has done earlier in the same situation can give knowledge and help nurses to apply the same.
While doing nursing research they can also identify clinical problems and can also find out their
solutions. Participating in research committee can also be helpful in solving various surgical
issues. Research should have incorporate in the life as it improvise learning practice.
Resource utilization:

Nurses should be properly utilize resources so that they can provide better treatment to the
patients. While providing treatment safety, security, cost, effectiveness, availability everything
should be considered. Nurses should have also assist patient regarding available services so that
health related needs can get addressed (Dutra, Salles and Guirardello, 2019). As per the
knowledge of nurses only hospital should have assigned them duties. Based on the condition of
patient task should be delegated. If the condition of patient is not that much bad then patient can
be assigned to any nurse but if patient is in critical condition then he or she has to be assigned to
experienced nurses only. Nurses should have give complete and true information to the patients
and their family in terms of his treatment.
Leadership:
Effective leadership plays important role in solving issues. Leadership is necessary in every field
whether it is health care or can be any other field. Nurses should work with their team so that can
improve the quality of services. Should have also focus on creating healthy working
environment. Senior nurses can provide mentoring to new nurses so that they do not face issue in
delivering services. Creativity should bring timely and encourage others to adapt and accept
changes easily. Proper coordination should be there between care providers and care givers.
Coordination helps in solving various issues because both parties care providers and givers have
clarity and there is no scope of confusion. Passion should be there in order to provide good
quality of work. Mistakes should be accepted and not ignored. As everyone learns from mistakes
only. So nurses should contribute to create such culture in which care givers are motivated to
take risks.
Collegiality:
Nurses should share knowledge and skills with their peers. When each one will share knowledge
then it will help other to grow and it will also develop their understanding. Improvement is done
when peers provide feedbacks to each other. Genuine feedbacks should be provided so that care
giver will come to know that where they are lacking. Proper and clear communication should be
there between the staff. By working on their weakness nurses can improve their nursing
practices. Contribute in supporting work environment. As work environment should be healthy
so that no individual feel uncomfortable in share their views. nurses should provide age
appropriate care (Jangland and et.al., 2018). When providing care to patients they should have

not become rude with them. As patients have stress already of surgery so nurses should take care
of them in sensitive manner.
CONCLUSION
Through this report it can be concluded that nurses have very important role in complete
health care setting. To handle surgical patient is not easy. As patients are going through surgery
so they face nervousness. Nurses have to handle patients after and before they are going for a
surgery. They also have to provide them proper medication or treatment to their patients. There
are various issues which is faced in surgical care. Patient safety is the major issue. Small
carelessness can also cost to the death or injury to the patient. Normally after surgery, patients
get infection which can harm there other organs. Health care frustration is also challenge which
has to be mitigate. When treatment is given with frustrated mind then there are chances of getting
mistakes. Report has discussed grand nursing theory and also many solutions from which issues
can be minimised and solved. Effective communication should be their between all care givers in
order to get clarity. Nurses should make sure that they are providing good quality of treatment to
their patients and dealing their patients in sensitive manner.

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Online
General Surgery - Possible Complications., 2021. [online]. Available through:
<https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-treatments/g/general-surgery/complications.html>
NURSING STANDARDS., 2021. [online]. Available through:
<https://www.currentnursing.com/nursing_management/nursing_standards.html>