Abstract
Since the beginning of 1990 the education of the Swedish perioperative nurse (anaesthesia nurses and operating room nurses) has stressed the philosophy of perioperative care, including a recent presented model of the perioperative dialogue. The aim of this study was to map managers and perioperativ nurses experiences of possibilities and obstacles for the perioperativ dialogue. A questionnaire was sent to 495 Swedish perioperative nurses and their managers. The response rate was 63% (n=314), consisting of 271 nurses and 43 managers. All open ended questions were interpreted by hermeneutics. As a result of the interpretation two major categories «new habits may be created by praxis» and «new ways of thinking may be banned», emerged. The first category describes the possibilities as; a new way of thinking is developing; managers conceive themselves as fiery spirits'; teamwork expands and routines for perioperative care is developing in praxis. The second category describes the obstacles as; unwillingness to changes; lack of fiery spirits' among nurses; lack of right to make decisions; being understaffed; and the present organisation. The study shows possibilities for launching the perioperative model and the perioperative dialogue into praxis. The dominant obstacle seems to be attitudes to changes by the staff.