Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the meaning of being an operating room nurse within the contexts of the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural forces that influence operating room nursing practice. Habermas' theory of communicative action provided a framework for philosophical inquiry in this study. One time in-depth interviews with six expert OR nurses, selected from an ambulatory surgery center, community hospital, and a large medical center in the northeastern United States, were tape recorded and transcribed. The text was analyzed following the principles of critical hermeneutics. Themes and constitutive patterns were identified and analyzed in relation to the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural forces that form the contexts of operating room nursing. ;Four constitutive patterns, each encompassing several themes, were identified: "Working in a Different World", "Defending My Place", "Let Me Do My Job", and "I Know You, I'm Here for You". The nurses included in the study were involved in a dynamic struggle between the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural forces that drive them out of the operating room and their sense of connection and commitment to their patients. Their holistic nursing practice makes a unique and valuable contribution to the OR environment. For them the meaning of being an operating room nurse was identified as a struggle of making sense of their existence in the operating room. It encompasses the negative and positive feelings they experienced in the process of seeking and maintaining meaningfulness in their work. It is through the nurses' ability to overcome this struggle that they find meaningfulness in this environment. ;Results of this study may be used to sensitize nurses and administrators to the struggles inherent in operating room nursing and the value of the presence of professional nursing in the operating room. Further research is recommended to give voice to operating room nurses and to document the unrecognized patient care which professional nurses provide in the operating room