Surgical Conscience: A Concept Analysis for Perioperative Nurses.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Science
• Surgical Practice
• Medical Ethics

Background:

• Surgical conscience is recognized as a fundamental principle in perioperative nursing.
• There is a notable scarcity of published literature detailing the introduction, learning, improvement, or measurement of surgical conscience.
• Existing understanding of surgical conscience may be based on assumptions rather than empirical investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To perform a concept analysis of surgical conscience in perioperative nursing.
• To develop a comprehensive definition of surgical conscience.
• To guide future research and prevent the reinforcement of unverified concepts in surgical practice.

Main Methods:

• A principle-based concept analysis was employed, specifically the Penrod and Hupcey method.
• The analysis framed surgical conscience using epistemological, pragmatic, linguistic, and logical principles.
• A literature search was conducted to identify existing research and operationalizations of the concept.

Main Results:

• Surgical conscience spans multiple domains, including nursing, surgery, anesthesiology, surgical technology, and interventional radiology.
• The literature search did not yield a published operational definition of surgical conscience.
• The analysis highlighted a gap in understanding how surgical conscience is developed and assessed.

Conclusions:

• A comprehensive definition of surgical conscience has been established.
• Future research is essential to empirically validate and reinforce the concept of surgical conscience.
• This work aims to prevent conceptual dogma by ensuring that attributes of surgical conscience are supported by investigation.