1 2 3
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
operative bleeding?
Yes, reduced anxiety is a common theme when it comes to touting
the benefits of warming. Warming patients pre-operatively can be the
emotional equivalent of tucking in a child at night. "It keeps patients
warm, it lowers their anxiety level and it shows that we really care
about them," says Mary Radke, BSN, RN, ASC manager of Dakota
Surgery and Laser Center in Bismarck, N.D.
Practitioners say it's a tonic that calms the nerves. "We warm all of
our patients with a warm blanket," says a facility leader. "It reduces
anxiety and makes patients feel as if we're really paying attention to
their needs." Exactly. When you warm patients, you are, in fact, pay-
ing attention to their needs — not only in terms of comfort, but in
ways that can be easy to overlook, and that most patients would
never imagine.
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Warming reduces intra-operative bleeding.
Studies (
tinyurl.com/pdl3mz4
) show that patients who aren't ade-
quately warmed intraoperatively are likely to need significantly
more units of red blood cells, plasma and platelets. That's because as
core temperatures decrease, so do platelet circulation and function.
One benchmark: A patient whose temperature drops 2ºC during sur-
gery is likely to lose twice as much blood as one who's kept warm.
That's bad enough, but transfusions also increase the risks of infec-
tion, reaction and immune suppression.
2
Warming decreases the chance of a cardiac
event. The literature (
tinyurl.com/lu9jxyq
) reinforces the point.
One study found that a core temperature drop of 1.5ºC can
triple the likelihood of ventricular tachycardia, heart attack or even
cardiac arrest.
P A T I E N T W A R M I N G
