3 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 1 9
P
atients who wait nervously for surgery in skimpy
gowns always appreciate the effort you make to keep
them warm and comfortable. They'd appreciate it even
more if they knew inadvertent perioperative hypother-
mia has been linked to increased risk of wound infec-
tion, blood clotting disorders and cardiac events.
With those adverse events in mind, we reviewed a series of case
records in our facility's electronic medical record to see how many
patients were hypothermic (body temperature below 36°C) in the OR
and in PACU. We focused on cases expected to last longer than 2
A Proactive Approach to Preventing Hypothermia
Pre-warming was the difference-maker in our quest
to maintain normothermia in patients from pre-op to PACU.
• HOT TAKE Begin active warming in pre-op and continue it in the OR to prevent the significant initial temperature drop that
redistribution hypothermia causes.
Amy Yarbrough, BS, BSN, RN, CNOR | Cincinnati, Ohio
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
