testimony, not rigorous studies involving real-world OR settings.
Lawyers for 3M have countered with studies that back the safety of
forced-air warming and argue that no surgical site infection has been
definitely linked to their devices. The first federal lawsuit, which will
set legal precedent for the other cases, is scheduled to begin in the
coming months.
The upshot of the legal wrangling: There is currently no clear evi-
dence of associated infection risks that should prevent you from
using forced-air warmers. It's important, however, to always follow
the manufacturer's instructions for use and proper cleaning.
4. Surgeons shouldn't sweat
The ambient temperature in the OR should be kept between 68°F and
75°F to help maintain normothermia in patients, according to AORN's
patient warming guidelines. It might be helpful to maintain room tem-
peratures within that range, but turning the thermostat up to 75°F might
overheat members of the surgical team and would still set the room
temperature 13° lower than the normothermic threshold in patients. In
my experience, pre-warming in pre-op and active warming during sur-
gery has more of an impact on a patient's core body temperature than
raising the OR temperature. I've found that actively warmed patients
will remain normothermic during surgery, regardless of the ambient
room temperature.
5. Normothermia is the new normal
The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) Core Measure 10
requires you to actively warm patients who undergo procedures
under general or neuraxial anesthesia that last an hour or longer. You
must record at least 1 normothermic body temperature reading within
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