Transferability of the Surgical Attire Guideline Adherence Decision-Making Theory Beyond New England

The AORN surgical attire guideline promotes cleanliness in the perioperative environment to minimize patients' risks of developing surgical site infections. In 2020, the surgical attire guideline adherence decision-making model was published based on findings from a study involving New England intraoperative team members. To explore the model's transferability across the United States, we replicated the 2020 study with intraoperative personnel who did not live or work in New England. The study results included the same core category as the 2020 study (ie, critical thinking), and we confirmed that intraoperative team members across the United States weigh the influence of various factors when deciding to what extent they would adhere to the surgical attire guideline. The results showed transferability of the theoretical model to perioperative settings across the United States. This model can be used to enhance intraoperative team members' surgical attire guideline adherence decisions.