Achieving and Maintaining SCIP Normothermia

Aurelia Osborn Fox Memorial Hospital's quality management team, led by the outcomes manager, partnered with the operating room (OR) staff to work on improving the temperature management of surgical patients in the OR and post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). In 2009, compliance with the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) infection measure was poor, with an average of 47 percent of surgical patients hypothermic as they entered the PACU. The team determined that several inconsistencies were causing patients to be hypothermic: inconsistent techniques used for accurate temperature measurement among the staff; inconsistent use of warmed blankets for pre-warming patients; some staff were unaware that unintended hypothermia causes poor outcomes, including higher mortality rates, increased hospital stays, and an increased rate of wound infection; and inconsistency between the clocks in the OR and PACU, sometimes causing the timing of the temperature to fall outside acceptable parameters.