Every year, millions of patients suffer from the effects of unintended hypothermia. Operating rooms are kept cold and operating table surfaces mirror the room temperature prior to the patient’s arrival. Patients are uncovered. Surgical sites are open. Cold fluids are infused. In fact, roughly half of the patients undergoing general and major regional anesthesia are not warmed during surgery and many suffer from unintended hypothermia.
Hypothermia can happen quickly. During surgery, the greatest drop in core temperature occurs in 30—60 minutes when 1.6°C is typically lost. Often, the patient begins losing body temperature in pre op and arrives in the OR below normothermia. Anesthetic agents themselves interfere with the ability of the body to regulate temperature. And certain patient types are more prone to losing body heat than others.
As a result, patients are frequently transferred to recovery in a hypothermic state.
In the PACU, coldness is one of the most frequent patient complaints. In a survey of post operative nurses, warmth was cited as the chief comfort concern followed by pain. Warm blankets are piled on the patient to relieve the effects of hypothermia and complete recovery can take much valuable time.
