M A Y 2 0 1 5 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 6 3
A new way of thinking is necessary
to guide surgical facilities and their
staffs toward effective implementa-
tion of patient warming protocols
and provide patients with the peri-
operative protection they deserve.
The "Prevention of Perioperative
Hypothermia Toolkit" aims to fill
that need.
The collaboration between
researchers at the University of
Iowa, clinicians at the Genesis Medical Center in Davenport, Iowa, and AORN was introduced for
public use in April. Building on professional organizations' guidelines and published evidence on
the practice to assist facilities in implementing warming protocols, the toolkit also enables them
to track adherence to evidence-based practices, assess barriers to full adoption and design correc-
tive processes.
The development of its customizable educational materials and analysis tools was funded by
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and its components are available for download
through the AORN website (osmag.net/s2WWNk).
Is it an effective approach? A retrospective review, which we presented as a poster at the AORN
Congress in Denver last March (osmag.net/Zjt8QV), evaluated the toolkit based on a community
hospital's adherence to pre-operative forced-air warming and intraoperative forced-air warming
before anesthetic induction among adult surgical patients, and whether the patients were nor-
mothermic upon their arrival in PACU. On both data points, the toolkit showed dramatic results.
— Victoria M. Steelman, PhD, RN, CNOR, FAAN
PRACTICE ENHANCEMENT
A Toolkit for Improved Patient Warming
z COMFORT MEASURE Efforts are underway to
increase the adoption of proper warming protocols.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
