Background: The study was aimed at verifying the predictive power of perfectionism for professional burnout among nurses exposed to distress resulting from work in an operating suite and testing whether this effect exists after controlling for selected demographic and job characteristics. Material and Methods: The study group consisted of 100 nurses (93 women; mean age: 38.67 years). The majority in the group worked in public facilities (68%), in duty system (62%), as operating (75%) or anesthesiology (25%) nurses. To test perfectionism The Polish Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism Questionnaire (AMPQ) (Perfekcjonizm Adaptacyjny i Dezadaptacyjny - PAD), developed by Szczucka, was used. To examine burnout the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) by Demerouti et al. was adopted. The effects of selected demographic and job characteristics were controlled. Results: The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for selected demographic and job characteristics maladaptive perfectionism was a significant predictor of disengagement and exhaustion whereas adaptive perfectionism predicted a better work engagement. Significant predictors were also: education, number of workplaces, duty system and marital status. Conclusions: The study allowed to confirm the hypothesis on a harmful role of maladaptive perfectionism in shaping burnout among operating suite nurses. The hypothesis on protective function of adaptive perfectionism was confirmed only partially, with regard to disengagement. The results of the study also highlighted some risk factors of burnout which may exist in this occupational group. This confirms the need to continue research in this area. Med Pr 2013;64(6):761–773