Journal of post anesthesia nursing
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Forced-air warming versus routine thermal care and core temperature measurement sites.
Hypothermia occurs commonly during the perioperative period and is preventable with proper warming measures and body temperature monitoring. Using a prospective, randomized study design, we compared forced-air warming (Warm Touch, Mallinckrodt Medical, Inc, St Louis, MO) (n = 15) with routine thermal care (n = 14) during the intraoperative and early postoperative periods. The results show that compared with routine thermal care, forced-air warming resulted in higher core temperatures both intraoperatively and postoperatively. ⋯ Assuming tympanic temperature is most representative of "core" temperature, oral measurements were likely to underestimate core temperature, whereas bladder and rectal temperatures overestimated core temperature. The relationship between body temperatures measured at commonly used monitoring sites must be recognized by nurses to account for the tendency to overestimate or underestimate core temperature. This knowledge can be applied in the management of patients in the operating room or PACU and specifically in the evaluation of PACU patients before discharge.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Music reduces stress and anxiety of patients in the surgical holding area.
Many patients in the Surgical Holding Area become stressed and anxious. In a hospital setting music reduces patients' anxiety. This study determined that music can reduce the anxiety and stress of patients in the Surgical Holding Area. ⋯ Subjects who listened to music while in the Surgical Holding Area had significantly less stress and anxiety than did those who did not listen to music. Both groups spent similar lengths of time in the Surgical Holding Area. The results strongly suggest that if music were available to all patients in the Surgical Holding Area, most would select this option, and they would experience less anxiety.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Effect of music therapy in the postanesthesia care unit: a nursing intervention.
This study examined the effect of music on pain, hemodynamic variables, and respiration in the PACU, and the impact of music on patients' recall of their PACU experience. Sixty patients scheduled for thyroid, parathyroid, or breast surgery under general anesthesia were studied. ⋯ There was no difference in pain level, morphine requirement, hemodynamics, respiration, or length of stay in the PACU among the 3 groups, yet the music group was able to wait significantly longer before requiring analgesia on the nursing unit. Patients who listened to music perceived their PACU experience as significantly more pleasant than the patients in the other two groups as recalled both 1 day and 1 month later.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Rewarming postoperative patients: lights, blankets, or forced warm air.
This study was designed to determine if the forced warm air system is more effective than warmed cotton blankets or radiant heat lamps for rewarming postoperative patients. PACU admission temperatures were taken on 370 adult patients. The study population of 90 patients with admission temperatures of 35 degrees C (95 degrees F) or less was randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: (b) warmed cotton blankets, (L) radiant heat lamps, or (A) forced warm air. ⋯ The mean rewarming times for patients who shivered were similar for all groups. For those patients who did not shiver, those treated with forced warm air rewarmed significantly faster than patients in the other groups. Nonshivering patients treated with forced warm air were ready for discharge somewhat sooner than those treated with either of the other two interventions.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
The effects of two warming methods on core and surface temperatures, hemoglobin oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and perceived comfort of hypothermic postanesthesia patients.
An experimental study was conducted in two PACUs to test the effect of two warming methods on core and surface temperatures, oxygen hemoglobin saturation, blood pressure, and perceived comfort of hypothermic postanesthesia patients. The study was based by Selye's theory of stress, which states that when individuals are confronted with stressors, physiological adaptation occurs to maintain homeostasis. Subjects studied were 91 adult patients who were randomly assigned to two groups: group 1 patients were warmed with the Bair Hugger Warming System (Augustine Medical, Inc, Eden Prairie, MN), and group 2 patients were warmed with warmed bath blankets. ⋯ No significant differences were found between the two groups on core temperature and blood pressure. Implications for PACU nurses include an efficient, cost-saving method to promote patient adaptation to the stressors of inadvertent hypothermia. Further studies are needed to validate the findings from this study and to test nurses' responses to the Bair Hugger Warming System.