even mild hypothermia, including delaying
recovery, impairing coagulation and increased
susceptibility to perioperative wound infec-
tions.
But don't assume that hypothermia won't
occur just because you actively warm patients.
Nearly two-thirds of patients who were
warmed with forced air during surgery still
experienced hypothermia, according to a
study (osmag.net/K7QJbq) published in the
February 2015 issue of the journal
Anesthesiology. Reviewing the esophageal
temperatures of nearly 59,000 patients under-
going surgeries that lasted an hour or longer,
researchers found that 64% became hypother-
mic during the first hour after anesthesia
induction, nearly half remained hypothermic
for more than an hour and 20% remained
hypothermic for more than 2 hours. Most
patients had normal temperatures by the end
of surgery.
A lift for plastic surgery
Susan Bazzell, MD, anesthesiologist at Raad
Taki Plastic Surgery Center in Tucson, Ariz.,
says that even though her facility was pre-
warming patients, maintaining normothermia
was sometimes an issue in the recovery room,
especially for cases of more than an hour. Her
solution was a self-designed plastic head
5 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 6
Designed
to improve
outcomes.
Including the health
of your department.
Enthermics® warming
solutions improve clinical
outcomes by helping patients
maintain normothermia
from admission to discharge.
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safely, quietly and evenly.
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