Outpatient Surgery Magazine

No Guarantees - March 2017 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

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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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 • M A R C H 2 0 1 7 Whether you choose to warm patients pre-operatively, intra-operatively or in PACU — or all of the above — chances are the forced-air warming blanket is your pre- ferred means of keeping patients normothermic. It's the method of choice at Logan (Utah) Regional Hospital, too, but the hospital is open to the idea of change. Kimberly Klinkowski, RN, MSN, CNOR, the hospital's director of surgical services, says they might consider alternatives in light of ongo- ing though unproven allega- tions that forced air can con- tribute to surgical site infec- tions, particularly in orthopedic cases. "Some of the orthopedic surgeons keep bringing it up," she says. "Our infection rate is below 1%, so we haven't had problems with infections. If we did, we'd definitely have a reason to jump off the curb. I haven't been pushed yet, but I'm being pushed in that direction." Susan Alexander, RN, MSN, CPAN, recently put forced air WARMING TRENDS Shaking Up How Patients Warm Up • PRE-GAMING Pre-operative warming can result in increased patient comfort, quicker recovery times and a reduced risk of infection. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN

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