Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
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P A T I E N T Can You (Legally) Profit from Deadly Inside the Anesthesia Las Vegas Services? Hep C Outbreak W A R M I N G PRE-WARMING was enough to change our practice of Does Pre-warming Contribute to Normothermia? giving patients a warmed blanket before A 1/2 Vertical surgery. lthough a study (tinyurl.com/cwm6auv) hypothermia. One shows no difference in patients' post- reason for this, If you want to prevent hypothermia, focus your efforts on intraoperative op temperatures and no decrease in writes Dr. patient warming. If you pre-warm patients, post-op hypothermia as a result of pre-operative Nicholson, may be warming, it leaves open the possibility that pre- that all the patients warming may contribute to post-operative nor- were warmed with mothermia. In "A Comparison of Warming a forced-air warm- Interventions on the Temperatures of Inpatients ing device before Undergoing Colorectal induction in the Surgery," Martha Nicholson, DNP, RN, from North OR. there's no reason to discontinue this prac- Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., tice. It's a huge patient satisfier. But as our QI study shows, if you're looking to change a practice, don't assume. Look at CAUSE AND EFFECT? New research suggests that patients might wake normothermic in recovery if you pre-warm them for at least 30 minutes. "Our study does compared cotton blankets and forced-air warm- not recommend a specific intervention for a pre- ing gowns provided in the pre-operative setting warming strategy," she says, "but indicates that for 66 patients undergoing colorectal surgery. The pre-warming may contribute to normothermia in author found that use of pre-warming devices the evidence that's out there and make sure there's actual proof before altering what you're already doing. OSM the immediate post-operative period." didn't result in a reduction in the proportion of Just four years ago, a massive, deadly hepatitis B outbreak at a Las Vegas endoscopy center changed medication safety practices forever. At OR Excellence this fall, mere miles from the outbreak's Ground Zero, you'll meet the epidemiologist who blew the lid off the scandal. Brian Labus will reveal the terrifying things he saw and heard during his investigation, explain the reasons for the safeguards put in place and share the tragic impact of the center's practices on its patients. — Dan O'Connor Ms. Mulvaine (mmulvaine@oak lawnhospital.com) is an RNFA in the OR at Oaklawn Hospital in Marshall, Mich. Sondra Fettis, MSN, RNC, and Elaine Van Doren, PhD, RN, contributed. There was no significant difference in the We were expecting, even hoping, that the At OR Excellence, Brian Labus, will be speaking on "Inside the Deadly Las Vegas Hep C Outbreak. Come see " him on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 1:30 pm and join in the discussion. mean temperatures when study participants study would arm us with needed evi- www.orexcellence.com/conference-connections/ Lincoln Surgical Hospital Lincoln, Neb. exited the holding area. Time spent in recov- dence to change our pre-warming prac- ery? The median times were almost identi- tice. Patients in the intervention group cal: 50 minutes for those who were pre- frequently commented how nice it was to warmed and 49 minutes for those that be warmed with the forced-air blower weren't. during pre-op, but we didn't think that patients who experienced post-operative The answers to both questions was "no." 5 1 SUPPLEMENT TO We were mildly shocked by the results. O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E | M AY 2013 5th Annual OR Excellence Conference & Exhibits October 23-25, 2013 Red Rock Resort & Spa Las Vegas, Nevada 888-YOUR ORX • www.orexcellence.com M AY 2013 | S U P P L E M E N T TO O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E 5 2