The Relationship between Surgical Nurses’ Attitudes toward Teamwork and Missed Nursing Care: A Descriptive Study

ntroduction: Surgical units require highly skilled and well-equipped multidisciplinary teamwork to provide patient-centered care. Effective teamwork among surgical nurses is critically important for ensuring patient safety and preventing missed nursing care. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between surgical nurses’ understanding of teamwork and missed nursing care.
Methods: This study was conducted between March 30 and July 25, 2025, with 120 nurses working in the surgical units of two district and one provincial state hospitals located in southern Türkiye. The study employed the "Nurse Information Form," the " Nursing Teamwork Survey (NTS)-Turkish," and the "MISSCARE Survey – Turkish Version" scales. Results: The study determined that surgical nurses exhibited a high level of teamwork (NTS mean score: 3.78±0.67). However, higher nursing teamwork scores were positively associated with higher MISSCARE Part A scores (r=0.319, p<0.001). While teamwork and missed nursing care differed across clinical units, the reasons for missed nursing care differed according to professional experience and absenteeism during the previous three months (p<0.05).
Discussion and Conclusion: Although surgical nurses demonstrated high levels of teamwork, higher teamwork scores were positively associated with higher levels of missed nursing care. These findings suggest that missed nursing care may not be explained by teamwork alone and that, given the complex and dynamic nature of surgical care, teamwork should be considered together with clinical and organizational conditions when addressing missed nursing care.

Keywords: Surgical nursing; Nursing teamwork; Missed nursing care; Teamwork attitudes