Mrs Nithivadee Wattanaparada¹, Mrs Rebecca Fox¹, Dr. Helen Jeffrey¹

¹Burns Operating Theatre, Royal North Shore Hospital, North Ryde, Australia

Abstract:

Burns patients have difficulty maintaining their temperatures during surgical procedures so interventions which maintain the environmental temperature of the perioperative area are crucial to the success of surgical procedures. The purpose of this research is to compare the effectiveness of the warming mattress and the air-filled underbody warming blanket on maintaining patients’ temperatures during and post operating procedures. This has been done by collecting temperature data of burns patients who underwent procedures during which it was difficult to cover the body area. Upon the examination of these results, it was clear that the warming mattress was more effective than the underbody blanket at maintaining patients’ temperatures, however, its use is not suitable for cases that require disinfecting solutions that can result in degradation of the mattress.

Biography:

Nithivadee is an anaesthetic nurse who has been a member of the Burns Operating Theatre team for over 10 years.  She has done research on Self-Care Education for patients with tubercolosis and AIDS and was a member of the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand specialising in Communications and Disease Control Association.