A comparison study on the effects of prewarming patients in the outpatient surgery setting

Maintenance of core body temperature in surgical patients presents a challenge to perioperative nurses. Core temperatures less than 36 degrees C are associated with multiple adverse outcomes postoperatively. Internal redistribution of heat from the body core to the colder periphery results in core temperature decreases of 0.5 degrees C to 1.5 degrees C in the first 30 minutes after induction of anesthesia. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in arrival temperatures to the PACU between surgical patients who had been warmed preoperatively with a forced warm air blanket and those patients warmed with cotton blankets. One hundred patients were randomly assigned to receive prewarming by using a forced-air warm blanket (n = 50) or a cotton blanket (n = 50). Temperatures were monitored every 15 minutes throughout the preoperative and postoperative periods. Patients in the forced warm air group had significantly higher temperatures on arrival to the PACU from the OR than did patients in the warm blanket group (P =.000). Patients in the forced warm air group exhibited a change in temperature of 0.0067 degrees C (+/-.52) compared with a decrease of 0.22 degrees C (+/-.48) for patients in the control group.