AORN journal
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This systematic review examines whether preventing hypothermia during surgery prevents postoperative complications and thereby improves outcomes for patients. Twenty-six randomized controlled trials were identified, and data extraction and assessment of study quality were carried out by two researchers independently. ⋯ Postoperative complications identified were shivering, cardiac events, need for blood transfusion, wound infections, and pressure ulcers. The majority of studies favored treatment.
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Unplanned hypothermia is commonly encountered in the perioperative period. Nursing has contributed to the literature on hypothermia with studies on shivering and treatment modalities; however, the direct physiological consequences of postoperative hypothermia have been reported mainly in the medical literature. ⋯ The Roy Adaptation Model is explained as a framework for nursing care of patients with hypothermia. Clinical practice guidelines for unplanned perioperative hypothermia also are provided.
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Many perioperative clinicians encounter difficulty in preventing hypothermia in surgical patients. One intervention to prevent perioperative hypothermia is the use of forced-air warming. Although forced-air warming is used most frequently in the intraoperative area, prewarming patients with forced-air warming systems before induction of anesthesia may be enough to prevent hypothermia throughout the surgical procedure, allowing patients to arrive in the postanesthesia care unit in a normothermic state. A review of the literature on preoperative forced-air warming is provided, and the effect of prewarming on postoperative patient temperatures is discussed.
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Although wrong site surgeries are rare, these incidents have received a great deal of media attention in recent years, prompting health care organizations and associations to search for ways to eliminate this problem. This article examines the quest for ways to prevent wrong site surgeries and considers the contributions of organizations such as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and AORN toward eliminating wrong site surgeries.