Working With Your Body in the Operating Room. The Case of Operating Room Nurses (RCIBO)

NCT06938594 | Enrolling By Invitation

• 1 other identifier: 29BRC24.0311 - RCIBO
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 60
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The undocumented observation, repeatedly observed in the operating rooms, of discomfort, including fainting, among medical and paramedical novices working in contact with surgical breaches raises questions about the mechanisms put in place to cope with what seems initially unimaginable. Indeed, accounts in the social sciences show that the surgical opening of a living person is, in some ways, a transgressive act, forbidden outside the operating room. By spilling blood, it induces a 'symbolic disorder' described by Mary Douglas, that is contained through ritualized practices, predispositions towards objectification, and injunctions to control affects. The use of surgical drapes allows for the partial erasure of the person being operated on, who is no longer seen as a subject, but as an object of care - a dehumanized body or 'image-object' described by Amandine Klipfel. It is possible that ORNs are gradually adapting to negotiate the reconfiguration of bodies in the operating room, the transgression inherent in the surgical opening of a living person, and the personal resonance this may have for them. The investigator questions the specificities of their profession and their physical, emotional, and cognitive relationships following the initial shock of confronting open bodies. Is it possible to grow accustomed to or adapt to open bodies to the point of no longer experiencing difficulties related to what was once unthinkable? The investigator aims to understand what becomes of these initially unrepresentable experiences and roles ORNs have in redefining the bodies present - the processes of objectification and rehumanization of patients in the operating rooms. This doctoral study grasps the cognitive and imaginary constructions they experience in France and Canada.

Conditions

Nurses; Operating Rooms

Keywords

operating room nurses; opened bodies; surgery

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• References to emotions in interviews

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 1 year

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Identification of body postures, verbal and non-verbal communication, reactions and interactions of professionals during observations in the operating rooms

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 1 year

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Operating room nurses

You may qualify if:

• operating room nurses
• Student nurses and operating room nurses
• Supervisors
• Doctors, interns and externs
• Surgeons
• Midwives and midwifery students
• Hospital cleaning staff
• Nursing assistants
• Biomedical staff

You may not qualify if:

• People not involved in surgical operations
• People refusing to take part in the study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Hospital, Brest: lead

Study Sites (1)

Chu Brest

Brest, 29609, France

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 10, 2025
• First Posted: April 22, 2025
• Study Start: January 27, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2028
• Last Updated: April 22, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL
• Time Frame: Data will be available beginning three years and ending fifteen years following the final study report completion
• Access Criteria: Data access requests will be reviewed by the internal committee of Brest UH. Requestors will be required to sign and complete a data access agreement

Locations

FR (1)