Patient warming in surgery and the enhanced recovery

Perioperative hypothermia is associated with poor outcomes for patients, yet it is preventable in most cases (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2011a). NICE guideline 65 (2008) provides clear recommendations for avoiding perioperative hypothermia in surgical patients at each stage of their surgical journey, preoperatively, intraoperatively and postoperatively. This article describes the risks for patients at each of the three stages and disseminates the most recent NICE recommendations on how both patients and health professionals can work together to avoid perioperative hypothermia. The Enhanced Recovery after Surgery programme (ERAS) considers patient warming to maintain perioperative normothermia to be a key component in accelerating patient recovery. This article looks at how the NICE guidelines on inadvertent perioperative hypothermia and the ERAS programme complement each other to successfully and significantly improve patient recovery.