The aim of nursing students' operating room (OR) clinical practice is to gain experience of the perioperative nursing process and to develop skills related to the practice within OR teams in a variety of situations. However, it has previously been problematic to get enough practical experience within OR teams because of the general urgency, e.g. rapid turnover and flow of emergency cases, and preceptors' multiple responsibilities related to their simultaneous need to work as team members. This study describes how Finnish, British and American nursing students (n = 30) experienced learning about teamwork during their OR placement period. The critical incident technique was used for data collection, and data were analysed using a descriptive phenomenological method. Three types of teamwork emerged based on the students' perceptions: functional manifestation of OR teamwork, gaining OR team membership and technical orientation of OR teamwork. The findings are discussed in relation to OR practice, education and research on ways to improve teamwork while maintaining a satisfactory OR learning context and stimulating interest in perioperative nursing.