The operating room (OR) is a vital clinical setting in which surgical treatment and the care of critically ill patients are delivered, and its nursing work is characterized by high risk, high complexity, and high professional specificity. Missed nursing care (MNC), the partial or complete omission, or delayed performance, of required nursing measures, has become an internationally recognized indicator of nursing quality and patient safety. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on MNC in the OR, including its conceptual basis, consequences, influencing factors, and prevention strategies. MNC threatens perioperative safety and recovery, increases the risk of adverse events, contributes to nurse burnout and turnover intention, and erodes the quality and safety management of health care organizations. Understaffing, inadequate material resources, complex and dynamic patient conditions, nurse-related factors such as inexperience and fatigue, and ineffective teamwork are consistently reported contributors. Promising strategies include dynamic staffing allocation, standardized perioperative nursing processes, nonpunitive safety cultures, tiered competency-based training, and the integration of nursing-sensitive quality indicators into routine quality monitoring. Future research should develop systematic risk assessment and intervention frameworks specific to the OR context. Reducing MNC is essential for safeguarding perioperative patients and advancing the quality of perioperative nursing.
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Zhao,B., Cheng, M. (2026) Missed Nursing Care in the Operating Room: A Narrative Review of Consequences, Contributing Factors, and Prevention Strategies. Journal of Disease and Public Health, 2(3), 17-22. https://doi.org/10.71052/jdph/QEJY1811