title: The effect of preoperative warming on patients' postoperative temperatures.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Anderson Hospital, Maryville, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Shauna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000009:adverse effects; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000451:nursing* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013527:Perioperative Nursing / Q000379:methods; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000451:nursing / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000451:nursing*