[The nurse in the surgical area: prevention of complications and implemention of intervention in patient care].

The contribution made by the surgical nurse is essential to ensure the security of the patient who is subjected to surgery as well as accompany this specialized professional work to ensure that the patient is in the best physical and mental condition to deal with procedures of these characteristics. Nurse care in the surgical area is frequently described from a biomedical approach as it focuses on the type of surgery or the surgical technique, a perspective that might be inadequate and obsolete in identifying the areas of professional intervention and in clarifying the objectives of the nursing staff in the surgical area. In this paper nursing interventions such as emotional support, enhanced security and the prevention of infection are described as well as the identification of potential complications more prevalent in the different stages of surgical procedure, such as bleeding, hypoxia or hypothermia, among others, all these different points are developed, from a rationalistic nursing approach with emphasis on a humanistic vision of patient care. The specificity of the surgical area demands a prepared and competent professional nurse in the emotional support of the patient and his or her family, as well as the demons- tration of knowledge and skills in technical management and instruments associated with each type of surgery. It also requires competence in the diagnosis of potential com- plications and the development of activities designed to the prevention, early detection and treatment of potential health problems.