The use of temperature as a discharge criterion for ambulatory surgery patients

Evaluating each patient's return to an acceptable state after surgical and anesthetic intervention is the responsibility of the postanesthesia nurse. Postanesthesia nurses use criteria to determine ambulatory surgical patient readiness to be discharged from phase I recovery to phase II recovery and from phase II recovery to home. Temperature is one indicator of postanesthesia recovery. Temperature discharge criteria from phase I postanesthesia recovery have been reported. However, temperature discharge criteria for phase II postanesthesia recovery have been adapted from phase I standards and nursing traditions. This study sought to describe the postoperative temperatures of ambulatory surgical patients from admission to phase II postanesthesia recovery to discharge home. A convenience sample of 101 adult patients undergoing surgery at a hospital-based ambulatory surgical unit (ASU) participated. Tympanic temperature was measured preoperatively on admission to the ASU, postoperatively, at the beginning of phase II postanesthesia recovery, and at the end of phase II postanesthesia recovery immediately before discharge home. All subjects were normothermic during phase II postanesthesia recovery, with temperatures ranging from 36.0 degrees C (96.8 degrees F) to 38.3 degrees C (101 degrees F). Paired Student's t Test showed significant differences (P < .0001) between temperature means. There was a 0.38 degrees C (0.7 degree F) decrease between preoperative admission temperature and temperature on admission to phase II postanesthesia recovery. During phase II postanesthesia recovery the mean temperature increased 0.16 degree C (0.3 degree F) before discharge home. However, the clinical and practical implications of these findings is questionable.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)