Premium
Nurses' Knowledge of Inadvertent Hypothermia
Author(s) -
Hegarty Josephine,
Walsh Ella,
Burton Aileen,
Murphy Sheila,
O'Gorman Fionuala,
McPolin Gráinne
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/j.aorn.2008.09.003
Subject(s) - hypothermia , perioperative , perioperative nursing , medicine , mandate , intensive care medicine , psychological intervention , nursing interventions classification , nursing , medical emergency , anesthesia , political science , law
Inadvertent hypothermia can have significant consequences in the perioperative setting. Knowing how to recognize and manage inadvertent hypothermia is an important aspect of perioperative nursing. A quantitative, descriptive study was conducted at an annual perioperative nursing conference to evaluate nurses' knowledge regarding the prevention of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia. Significant variations in responses regarding definitions of hypothermia and normothermia were noted. In addition, nurses identified a plethora of factors that prevent them from maintaining normothermia in their patients. These factors mandate a need for educational interventions and the adoption of practice guidelines in the clinical area. AORN J 89 (April 2009) 701–713. © AORN, Inc, 2009.