Intraoperative and Postoperative Complications of Hypothermia

2075 Words5 Pages

Reviewing the Literature Hypothermia is a common problem in surgical patients. Up to 70% of patients experience some degree of hypothermia that is undergoing anesthetic surgery. Complications include but are not limited to wound infections, myocardial ischemia, and greater oxygen demands. The formal definition of hypothermia is when the patient’s core body temperature drops below 36 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to synthesize what studies reveal about the current state of knowledge on the effects of pre-operative warming of patient’s postoperative temperatures. I will discuss consistencies and contradictions in the literature, and offer possible explanations for the inconsistencies. Finally I will provide preliminary conclusions on whether the research provides strong evidence to support a change in practice, or whether further research is needed to adequately address your inquiry. Discussion of Identified Articles After reviewing six research studies varying from systematic, to meta-analysis, to experimental, and to quasi-experimental they all have identified that there are positive effects of pre-warming the patient prior to surgery. Andrzejowski, Hyle, Eapen & Turnbull (2008), performed a quasi-experimental study with 68 adult patients having spinal surgery under general anesthesia. 31 were pre-warmed for 60 minutes before induction and 37 were in a control group. All received forced air warming (FAW) during surgery. Pre-warming the patient had a significant effect on patient's outcomes, which resulted in a decrease incidence of perioperative hypothermia. When pre-warming by FAW, the patient experiences better outcomes and improved patient satisfaction. Additionally, Vanni... ... middle of paper ... ...1, February). Preprocedure warming maintains normothermia throughout the perioperative period: A quality improvement project. Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing, 26(1), 9-14. Melling, C. A., Baqar, A., Eileen, M. S., & David, J. L. (2001, September 15). Effects of preoperative warming on the incidence of wound infection after clean surgery; a randomised control trial. The Lancet, 358, 876-880. Smith, C., Sidhu, R., Lucas, L., Mehta, D., & Pinchak, A. (2007, March 13). Should patients undergoing ambulatory surgery with general anesthesia be actively warmed? Internet Journal of Anesthesiology, 12(1). Vannie, S. M. D., Braz, J. R. C., Modolo, N. S. P., Amorium, R. B., & Rodrigues, G. R. (2003, March). Preoperative combined with intraoperative skin-surface warming avoids hypothermia caused by general anesthesia and surgery. Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, 15, 119-125.

Show More
Related

  • Thermoregulatory Temperature

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inadvertent perioperative hypothermia is a common anesthesia-related complication with reported prevalence ranging from 50% to 90%.(ref 3,4 of 4) The clinical consequences of perioperative hypothermia include tripling the risk of morbid myocardial outcomes and surgical wound infections, increased blood loss and transfusion requirements, and prolonged recovery and hospitalization.(ref 5)

    Read More

  • Anaesthetic Machine and Airway Equipment

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    This essay describes how the anaesthetic machine and airway management equipment are prepared in operating theatres and discusses how they are ensured safe for use. It evaluates the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) guidelines related to safe practice and the preparation of the ET tubes, laryngeal masks, guedels, Naso pharyngeal airways and the laryngoscope. The function of the anaesthetic workstation is to deliver a mixture of anaesthetic agents and gases safely to the patient during the induction process and throughout surgery. In addition, it also provides ventilation to support breathing and monitors the patient’s vital signs to minimise the anaesthetic risks to the patient whilst in the care of health professionals. The pre-use check is vital to patient safety as an inadequate check of the anaesthetic machine or airway management equipment can and does lead to significant harm of the patient including mortality (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), 2008 and Magee, 2012).

    Read More

  • Essay On Preoperative Hypothermia

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are numerous risks for a patient during the preoperative stage of the perioperative journey. All patients undergoing a surgical procedure are at risk of developing perioperative hypothermia, although there are various factors which also further increase an individual’s susceptibility (Burger & Fitzpatrick, 2009). An individual’s body type can cause them more susceptible to heat loss during the perioperative period. The patient’s nutritional state and being malnourished, if the individual is female and is of low body weight therefore a high ratio of body surface area to weight and limited insulation to prevent heat loss, these are all factors which negatively affect heat loss and therefore increasing the individual’s risk of perioperative hypothermia (Lynch et al.,

    Read More

  • Assessment and care of a Pediatric Client with Constipation

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Smeltzer, S. C., Bare, B. G., Hinkle, J. L., & Cheever, K. H. (2010). Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing (12th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

    Read More

  • Augustine Medical, Inc.

    1890 Words  | 4 Pages

    The company provides innovative solutions to combat postoperative conditions such as hypothermia. Medical research indicates that 60 to 80 percent of all postoperative recovery room patients are clinically hypothermic. Hypothermia is caused by a patient’s exposure to cold operating room temperatures that are required by surgeons to control infection, and for the personal comfort of the surgeon. Hypothermia can also be a result of heat loss due to evaporation of the fluids used to scrub patients, evaporation from exposed bowel, and breathing of dry anesthetic gases. Dr. Augustine’s personal experience in the operating room convinced him that there was a need for a new system to warm patients after surgery.

    Read More

  • Health Associated Infections

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hospital acquired infections are spread by numerous routes including contact, intravenous routes, air, water, oral routes, and through surgery. The most common types of infections in hospitals include urinary tract infections (32%), surgical site infections (22%), pneumonia (15%), and bloodstream infections (14%). ( book). The most common microorganisms associated with the types of infections are Esherichila coli, Enterococcus species, Staphylococcus auerus, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.(secondary) Urinary tract infections occur when one or more of microorganisms enter the urinary system and affect the bladder and/or the kidneys. These infections are often associated improper catheterization technique. Surgical site infections occur after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. These infections may involve the top of the skin, the tissue under the skin, organs, or blood vessels. Surgical site infections sometimes take days or months after surgery to develop. The infections can be cause by improper hand washing, dressing change technique, or improper surgery procedure. Pneumonia can also become a hospital acquired infection. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a type of lung in...

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Anaesthesia

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...to remain unconscious. Profound hypothermia and both hyper and hypoglycaemia can leads to unconsciousness. Ultimately, patient’s neurological aspect needs to be assessed to make sure no abnormality developed during or after the surgery that could be the reason of this problem. Raised intracranial pressure or diffuse encephalopathy from intraoperative cerebral hypoxia may occur during neurosurgery.

    Read More

  • Patient-Centered Disorders: A Case Study

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    Patient-centered variables can negatively impact perioperative care, particularly within the intraoperative and postoperative stages. Lifespan considerations, such as infants and older adults, put clients at increased risk for adverse outcomes, including perioperative hypothermia. Immature thermoregulatory functioning combined with the use of anesthesia are contributing factors for infants developing hypothermia intraoperatively, but recent studies indicate that the use of a forced-air warming system in operating rooms significantly reduces client risk (Witt, Dennhardt, Eich, Mader, Fischer, Brauer & Sumpelmann, 2013). Factors that impair thermoregulation in older adults include declining metabolic rates and decreased muscle mass (Pearson, 2015). Current perioperative nursing implications for maintaining thermoregulation in this high risk

    Read More

  • Stetler Model Paper

    348 Words  | 1 Pages

    In preparation for research the team identified the problem: Patients are often experiencing inadvertent perioperative hypothermia and significant pain post TKA surgery

    Read More

  • Hypothermia Case Study Nursing

    1748 Words  | 4 Pages

    The nurse must rewarm the patient after surgery if hypothermia persists. The negative effects of hypothermia include depression of the myocardium, ventricular dysrhythmias, vasoconstriction, and depression of clotting factors (increasing the risk of bleeding postoperatively). If the patient is hypothermic, rewarming may be accomplished by the use of warm blankets, warm humidified oxygen, convective air mattresses, and other individual institutional approaches.The nurse should carefully monitor the pulmonary artery pressures and the CO as well as the BP when interventions are instituted to assess the effect. Some references suggest that hemodynamic parameters be rechecked every 30 to 60 minutes after each intervention during the early postoperative

    Read More

  • Hypothermia Research Paper

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    The severity of hypothermia has been classified, as moderate with 32–34◦C, as mild 34–36◦C and as severe hypothermia when the temperature is less than 32◦C [2]. Intense shivering may occur between 34 and 36◦C which increases the oxygen demand and metabolic rate [3]. The hypothermic patients may be in a state of abnormal breathing and deep tendon reflexes. Changes in cardiac and coagulation systems such as the ventricle becomes irritable below the threshold temperature for ventricular fibrillation, i.e. 25 to 28◦C [4]. The adverse effects of hypothermia in the injured patient are shown in Table1

    Read More

  • Heat Stroke

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Boolean search of “cooling techniques AND heat exhaustion” on the online PubMed database returned 36 research articles. While looking at McDermott, et al’s systematic review of whole-body cooling, another interesting article was suggested in PubMed’s “Related citations in PubMed” list. This second piece of literature is an analysis of cooling techniques by Smith.

    Read More

  • The Three Stages Of Hypothermia

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anaesthesia should not be induced unless the patient is normothermic. If the patient is already hypothermic pre-induction, the thermal effect associated with anaesthesia will only exacerbate the thermal imbalance; therefore, active warming should be given. This also applies to patients who are identified high-risk or when their expected surgery time is greater than thirty minutes (John & Harper, 2014). At this stage, temperature should be monitored every half an hour until the surgery finishes (John & Harper,

    Read More

  • Patient Ambulation Definition

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    This smells sample size could limit the studies applicability to the general population. There is also a significantly higher percentage of post-surgery patients than other admission types, this could skew the results to be more representative of post-op patients than of other kinds of patients. The research only occurred on one floor of a community hospital in one part of the united states (Teodoro et al., 2016). These same results might not be applicable to other hospitals or even other floors of the same

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of Anesthesia

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    In most cases surgery is a life saving procedure that must be done. While the techniques, equipment, and procedures used during this process have changed the pain that is produced during surgery has remained relatively the same. Without proper anesthesia during surgery the pain would be unimaginably. Although we have effective anesthetic today, scientist and doctors are still working to improve it even

    Read More

More about Intraoperative and Postoperative Complications of Hypothermia

Open Document