3 2 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 6
geons and nurses to keep the ambient OR temperature at or above 68°F if you
can. You don't want your surgeons to be uncomfortable, but you don't want the
room unnecessarily cold either.
Your anesthesia delivery systems can also contribute to heat loss during sur-
gery. They deliver gases at near 0% humidity. Most new anesthesia machines
actively warm and humidify gases so you're not giving patients cold, dry gases.
Or you can place a passive humidifier (a filter known as an "artificial nose")
between the breathing circuit and the endotracheal tube, which helps retain
exhaled humidity, effectively preventing unwarmed anesthetic gases from
reducing core temperature.
How are you measuring core body temperatures? To prevent unplanned peri-
operative hypothermia, it's critical to continually record temperature readings.
Accurately measuring core temperature during surgery is essential to early
recognition of hypothermia and taking the steps to reverse it. Of the few nonin-
vasive ways to measure core temperature, I prefer nasopharyngeal temperature
probes. They're easy and reliable, and they let me measure core temperature
during procedures.
Lasting memories
What do patients remember most about their surgical experience? The IV start,
their post-op pain, nausea, and whether they felt cold. Warming throughout the
perioperative period will go a long way in making those memories good ones,
improving the overall surgical patient experience.
OSM
Mr. Webster (wes.webster@conehealth.com) is the assis-
tant director of anesthesia services at Moses Cone Surgery
Center and Wesley Long Surgery Center in Greensboro, N.C.
