3 0 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E J U LY 2 0 1 5
I
t's virtually a given that you're actively warm-
ing your patients when they're in the operat-
ing room. But that might not be enough. A
recent study (osmag.net/r4MXrV) found that
patients being warmed with forced air still
4 Keys to a Sound Patient
Warming Strategy
Jim Burger
Associate Editor
z HEATED APPROACH Forced-air warming
is highly effective, but can't always prevent
hypothermia on its own.
Diminish the chilling impact of
redistribution hypothermia.
typically experience peri-
ods of hypothermia when
general anesthesia kicks in
and body heat is redistrib-
uted from the core to the
periphery. So how can you
mitigate the chilling impact
of redistribution hypother-
mia?
1. Focus on the
first 30 minutes
Don't wait until patients
are in the OR. Start instead
by warming patients in
pre-op, so body heat con-
tent is increased by the
time they're ready for sur-
gery. "It's important to
bring them into the OR in
an optimized fashion," says
Shari Burns, CRNA, MSN,
EdD, program director and
an associate professor of
the nurse anesthesia pro-
gram at Midwestern
University in Glendale,
Ariz.
