• Normothermia versus hypothermia. Many of the nurses overesti-
mated or underestimated core body temperatures indicative of
hypothermia and the lower and upper cutoffs for normothermia, says
study lead author Karen K. Giuliano, PhD, RN, FAAN, MBA, an associ-
ate professor of nursing and executive director of healthcare innova-
tion and entrepreNURSEship at Northeastern University in Boston,
Mass.
AORN, the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses (ASPAN)
and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
define hypothermia as a core body temperature of less than 36°C. The
nurses who responded to the survey reported an average hypothermia
value of 35.1°C. That's good, but the result had a standard deviation of
3.80, which in research-speak indicates many nurses overestimated or
underestimated the core body temperature indicative of hypothermia.
The nurses also reported an average value of 35.1°C for the low cutoff
point for normothermia, which was lower than limits recommended
by ASPAN and NICE.
"That OR nurses with a significant amount of experience and edu-
cation were not always familiar with the temperature ranges and
definitions of hypothermia and normothermia suggests a need for
ongoing education and a more widespread dissemination of avail-
able patient warming guidelines," says Dr. Giuliano.
• Routine temperature monitoring. Many of the respondents (81%)
did conduct regular temperature readings on patients, although 16%
said they did so based only on individual patient assessments and
almost 3% did not employ routine monitoring. "Surgical nurses have
a huge amount of responsibilities, and temperature monitoring is
only one of them," says Dr. Giuliano. "Because not all facilities
require routine monitoring during surgery, its overall importance in
safe patient care might be underappreciated."
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