The Role of Nurses in Personal Protective Equipment Use in the Operating Theater During COVID-19 Pandemic: Are We Still Ready?

The coronavirus outbreak started on December 31, 2019, when the City Health Commission of Wuhan (China) reported 27 cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology. This disease, which is caused by a new coronavirus, was named as coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization on February 11, 2020. This situation, which was declared a pandemic after a short time, has deeply affected the entire health system as well as the operating room. Accordingly, nurses have important roles and responsibilities related to education, management, personal protective equipment, surgery planning, patient and employee safety. In this study, nurses’ roles in personal protective equipment use in the operating room during the COVID-19 pandemic was compiled in detail. Currently, while attitudes and indicators are dominated by the idea that the pandemic is close to end, we need to question of whether nurses are still ready for COVID-19 patients.