spatial relationships, 1. orientation in space; the ability to locate objects in the three-dimensional external world by using visual or tactile recognition and to make a spatial analysis of the observed information. Spatial orientation normally is a function of the right hemisphere of the brain. 2. the relative locations of staff and equipment in an operating room with particular emphasis on what is sterile, clean, or contaminated. The operating room nurse must maintain an awareness of the arrangement of people and the proximity of sterile to nonsterile areas.
