Enhancement Program On Prevention Of Hypothermia in at Kwong Wah Hospital Operation Theatre

Abstract Description

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Authors (including presenting author) :

Chan S M M, Lau K W, Mak W Y, Tam M Y

Affiliation :

Department of Anaesthesiology and Operation Theatre Service Kwong Wah Hospital

Introduction :

Human thermoregulatory system usually maintains a core body temperature near 37°C, and the peripheral tissue are usually about 2-4 °C cooler, that is human normothermia. Intraoperative hypothermia defined as core temperature < 36°C during surgery, its a common complication among surgical patients. Unintentional perioperative hypothermia causes serious patient complications and significantly increase healthcare costs. Perioperative hypothermia can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In this project, to enhance on prevention of unintentional perioperative hypothermia.

Objectives :

● Identify adverse outcomes of perioperative hypothermia ● Reinforce the Importance of Normothermia ● Decrease the occurrence of unintentional perioperative hypothermia in our selected area in 3 months by 50% ● To enhance on maintain perioperative normothermia by our finding in this project ● To expand the protocol to all surgical patients and monitor the outcome by periodic for a long term goal

Methodology :

Evidence based improvement project was adopted as our methodology in order to guide us throughout the project. Step 1: Describe the problem Step 2: Formulated Focused Clinical Question - A focused clinical question was formulated using PICO question. Step 3 & 4: Search for evidence, Appraised and synthesize evidence Step 5: Develop Goal Statement - Decrease the occurrence of unintentional postoperative hypothermia in all elective gynecological surgeries by 50 % in 3 months was our goal Step 6: Plan - Do- Study - Act Cycle - Add some new interventions to improve the unintentional postoperative hypothermia Step 7: Disseminated the Best Practice

Result & Outcome :

Results: Data Collection form was used in our study to collect the perioperative body temperature of all elective gynecological patients from 12 March 2018 to 1 June 2018 total 118 cases. The data showed that 6 cases out of 118 cases had postoperative body temperature below 36oC, which was approximately 5%, compared with the retrospective data from Aug 2017 to Jan 2018 total 3002 cases, there were 1170 cases had hypothermia (~38.9%). It showed that the situation of postoperative body temperature has been obviously improved. Conclusion: Unintentional perioperative hypothermia causes a lot of serious complications. An enhancement program was developed aimed to decrease the occurrence of postoperative hypothermia. Result suggested that new interventions reduced the occurrence of postoperative hypothermia. With the results identified, we would customize interventions to fit in to our clinical setting and make it a sustainable project.