7 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
I
t should come
as no surprise
that most out-
patient facili-
ties warm
their surgical patients.
After all, there's an
ever-growing moun-
tain of evidence that
says warming pre-
vents hypothermia as
well as many related
complications like car-
diac trouble, impaired
immune function, increased risk of infection and lengthier stays in
recovery. Plus, it's a proven patient-satisfier. What may surprise you,
however, is how, when and why your peers warm patients. These are
the details we aimed to uncover with our survey of more than 400
facility leaders.
One of the most notable survey findings: 63.2% of facilities said they
"always" warm surgical patients. That's a sizable jump from the 52.7%
of facilities that reported "always" warming patients back in 2013, the
last time we surveyed readers on this topic. Overall, however, the per-
centage of readers that warm patients at least "occasionally" has
remained largely unchanged, 90.1% in 2019 and 90.2% in 2013.
Readers Reveal Their
Patient Warming Preferences
Facility leaders agree hypothermia prevention is
critical, but differ on how, when and why to do it.
• FLUID WARMING Nearly 85% of our survey respondents heat fluids with a warming cab-
inet.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
Jared Bilski | Senior Associate Editor
