Objectives: To describe the frequency and severity of symptoms of exposure to surgical smoke experienced by operating room nurses and to assess and compare the knowledge of, attitude toward, protective measures for, and resistance factors for surgical smoke among operating room nurses with different background characteristics. Methods: This descriptive and comparative study used a convenience sample of nurses at two operating rooms at a medical institute and asked the nurses to fill a structured self-report questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance. Results: The three most frequent and severe symptoms were sleepiness, runny nose or other nasal discomfort, and headache and cough. Significant differences in symptom frequency and severity were noted with respect to age, years of nursing/operating room experience, and daily working hours. The knowledge test on surgical smoke was answered correctly by 53.3% of the nurses. The mean score of attitude toward handling surgical smoke was 3.58 and was significantly different with respect to age, work title, clinical nursing ladder, clinical unit, and years of nursing/operating room experience. The mean score for self-protective behavior was 1.47 and significantly differed between different clinical units. The mean score for resistance factor was 1.03 and significantly differed between different work titles. Conclusions: These findings may increase the awareness of the hazards of exposure to surgical smoke and highlight the importance of implementing relevant protection measures, educating medical personnel on the potential risk of and injury after exposure, and improving self-protective behaviors.