Premium
A clinical audit cycle of post‐operative hypothermia in dogs
Author(s) -
Rose N.,
Kwong G. P. S.,
Pang D. S. J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of small animal practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1748-5827
pISSN - 0022-4510
DOI - 10.1111/jsap.12547
Subject(s) - medicine , hypothermia , audit , anesthesia , intensive care medicine , accounting , business
OBJECTIVES Use of clinical audits to assess and improve perioperative hypothermia management in client‐owned dogs. METHODS Two clinical audits were performed. In Audit 1 data were collected to determine the incidence and duration of perioperative hypothermia (defined as rectal temperatures <37·0°C). The results from Audit 1 were used to reach consensus on changes to be implemented to improve temperature management, including re‐defining hypothermia as rectal temperature <37·5°C. Audit 2 was performed after 1 month with changes in place. RESULTS Audit 1 revealed a high incidence of post‐operative hypothermia (88·0%) and prolonged time periods (7·5 hours) to reach normothermia. Consensus changes were to use a forced air warmer on all dogs and measure rectal temperatures hourly post‐operatively until temperature ≥37·5°C. After 1 month with the implemented changes, Audit 2 identified a significant reduction in the time to achieve a rectal temperature of ≥37·5°C, with 75% of dogs achieving this goal by 3·5 hours. The incidence of hypothermia at tracheal extubation remained high in Audit 2 (97·3% with a rectal temperature <37·5°C). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Post‐operative hypothermia was improved through simple changes in practice, showing that clinical audit is a useful tool for monitoring post‐operative hypothermia and improving patient care. Overall management of perioperative hypothermia could be further improved with earlier intervention.