AORN journal
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Errors in nursing practice pose a continuing threat to patient safety. A descriptive, correlational study was conducted to examine the definitions, circumstances, and perceived causes of intraoperative nursing errors; reactions of perioperative nurses to intraoperative nursing errors; and the relationships among coping with intraoperative nursing errors, emotional distress, and changes in practice made as a result of error. ⋯ Seeking social support and planful problem solving emerged as significant predictors of constructive changes in practice. Most predictive of defensive changes was the strategy of escape/avoidance.