2. Warm all patients.
Like with pre-op bathing, we also found that there was no single stan-
dard practice when it came to warming our patients before their pro-
cedures. We'd warm
patients with blankets
if their temperature
was below 36°C, but
we didn't actively
monitor all patients'
temperatures.
After looking at
ERAS protocols and
current research, we
now use forced-air
warming blankets to
warm all of our
patients before and
during surgery. Not
only does this help
reduce the risk of an
SSI, it also improves
healing after surgery.
When patients are
cold, their metabo-
lism is slower and
anesthesia effects
tend to last longer in
PACU. Plus, it also
helps with overall sat-
J u l y 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 7 7
