3 8 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 M A Y 2 0 1 6
What's cold got to do with it?
Hypothermia is common during surgery. Anesthetics
disrupt the normal control of body temperature,
operating rooms are kept cool and patients' skin is
uncovered. But what does being cold have to do
with developing an infection? Even mild decreases
in core temperature impair the immune function and
decrease cutaneous blood flow that reduces tissue
oxygen delivery. This in turn increases the chance of
a wound infection and also impairs the wound-heal-
ing process. When the core body temperature
decreases, vasoconstriction occurs, which is a pro-
tective mechanism to divert blood to the center of
the body and help maintain the normal body temper-
ature. The reduction of nutrient and oxygen supply
to wounds increases the frequency of surgical
wound infection.
As more clinicians realize that perioperative
hypothermia does its real damage in the days after
surgery by impairing wound healing and increasing
the risk of an SSI, actively warming patients could
become a bigger priority, a matter of patient safety in
addition to patient comfort.
"Normothermia as a concept now seems to be tied
directly to patient safety and quality of care," says
Jacqueline Sions, MSN, RN, CNOR, NE-BC, manager
of the OR Center of Excellence at West Virginia
University Medicine – Ruby Memorial Hospital in
Morgantown, W.V. "[Normothermia] has always been
something people have been concerned with, but
Rather than rely on cabinet air
temperature, we meticulously
ƋåŸƋƋĘåāƚĜÚŸĜĹŸĜÚåƋŅåĹŸƚųå
accurate warming.
From worry-free operation for
caregivers to ultimate comfort
üŅųޱƋĜåĹƋŸØĜƋűŸƵʱƋűŸĜĹŸĜÚå
that counts.
Do you trust
your āƚĜÚ
temperatures?
We do.
ŅĹĀÚåĹƋϱųå
from Enthermics.
www.enthermics.com | 1-800-862-9276
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