Operating Room Culture and Interprofessional Relations: Impact on Nurse's Retention

The purpose of this article is to describe interprofessional relations in order to better understand their impact on nurse retention, while considering the operating room culture and its specific context. A focused ethnography was performed between September and October 2017 at a university hospital in an urban center in the province of Quebec, Canada. This was a secondary analysis of 11 nurses' semistructured one-on-one interviews. Additional data were collected through 6 days of observations, informal conversations, field notes, and a journal. A thematic analysis followed. Interprofessional relations and the need for recognition are important for nurse retention. In addition, a nurse's personality appears to be an important aspect in the complex and specific context of the operating room. Nurse retention in the operating room is multifactoral, and like the need for recognition, interprofessional relations are important issues. Interventions to improve working relationships, recognition of nurses, and consideration of a nurse's personality during hiring appear to be promising avenues for improving retention in the operating room.