Affiliation:
1. Edge Hill University, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
Abstract
While working on my first placement in the operating department recovery room, I was surprised by the frequency of patients coming into recovery with mild hypothermia, having taken their temperature on arrival. In many cases the patient did not arrive with a forced-air warming blanket, or any device other than a cotton blanket. It seemed to me that it would be more efficient, kinder and possibly more cost-effective to take steps to prevent perioperative hypothermia rather than to treat the consequences.