BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF STUDIES ON SURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS IN NURSING (2000-2022)

Surgical site infections are one of the most important health-related problems that cause mortality, morbidity, length of hospital stay, and increased health expenditures. This study aims to reveal the general texture of the literature by examining the research and review articles published in the journals scanned in the Scopus database between 2000-2022 on surgical site infections in the field of nursing research. A total of 677 publications were reached, including 565 research articles and 112 reviews, published in the field of nursing research between 2000 and 2022. It was determined that the studies were mostly published in the AORN Journal (n=112), Journal of Wound Care (n=41), and Journal of Infection Prevention (n=36). In the studies on surgical site infections in the nursing field, it was determined that the most repeated words were surgical infection, female, procedures, risk factors, aged, infection control, perioperative nursing, guideline, wound healing, postoperative complications, and preoperative care.  It was determined that the keywords used in the studies were orthopedics, antibiotics, wound care, gastric surgery, evidence-based clinical applications, colorectal surgery, and telehealth.   It is considered that the study will provide significant information in terms of revealing the general pattern, trend, and discussions in the studies on surgical site infection in the nursing research field on a global scale.