Metaphorical Perceptions of Operating Room Staff Towards the Concept of Pressure Ulcer: A Qualitative Study

Objective: To explain the perceptions of the operating room staff about pressure ulcers through metaphors. Methods: A descriptive qualitative research design was used. In the study, it was aimed to reach the entire universe, not choosing a sample. A total of 83 operating room staff participated in the study which 45 of them were operating room nurses, 38 of them were anesthesia technicians. The data were collected face to face with the descriptive features form and semi-structured interview form created by the researchers. In the semi-structured interview form, the operating room workers were asked to complete the sentence “Pressure ulcer is like ... because ...”. The data were analyzed with the "content analysis" method, which is one of the qualitative analysis methods. Results: Operating room staff generated a total of 25 types of metaphors for the concept of pressure ulcers and expressed 83 opinions for them. The first five most mentioned metaphors by the operating room staff were icebergs, matryoshka, storm after a sunny day, swamp, garden care and cracked vase, respectively. 19 of these metaphors were repeated nine to two times, and six of them were repeated once. Conclusion: Metaphors can be used as a powerful research tool in understanding and revealing the cognitive images of operating room staff regarding the concept of pressure ulcers. This study gives clues about how operating room staff imagine the concept of pressure ulcer.