Background: Surgical site infections are the second most common healthcare-related infection and implies high costs for the healthcare. It causes suffering for the patient and places high demands on the nursing care. The nurse's preoperative preparation of the patient is an important part where the patient's possible risk factors should be identified. It is also important that the patient receives information that is suitable for the patient's needs of nursing care. The nurse carries the primary liability of nursing care and has a responsibility to prevent surgical site infections from occurring.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the nurse's prerequisites to prevent the occurrence of surgical site infections in hospital care.

Method: The chosen method was a literature review based on ten articles of qualitative and quantitative methods published between 2013–2022.

Results: The analysis resulted in the following themes and sub-themes:Necessary communication with the sub-themes Team collaboration and Information transfer.Availability of principles and resources with the sub-themes Access to evidence-based guidelines, Pre-, intra- and post-operative premises and knowledge, A safe environment andAccess to materials. Pedagogical ability with the sub-themes Meeting the patient individually and Adequate patient education.

Conclusion: The results showed that there were both positive and negative aspects regarding the nurse's prerequisites for preventing surgical site infections, but the negative aspects were overrepresented. The nurses often had the required knowledge but did not use their abilities tothe same extent during work. This resulted in limited nursing care with insufficient complianceto the evidence-based guidelines.