Perioperative thermal management in Germany - Results of an online survey

The 2014 S3 Guideline for the prevention of perioperative hypothermia (see also short version on page 308 of this issue) recently published by the AWMF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften) emphasises the importance of an optimized perioperative thermal management for the prevention of adverse effects of hypothermia and the resulting economic consequences. However, it is still unclear how perioperative thermal management is carried out in Germany. Therefore, we conducted an online survey which included all members of the German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine. The questionnaire contained mainly questions focusing on the following areas: infrastructure of the workplaces, equipment used to measure core temperature and to warm patients, actual perioperative thermal management and available standards. The results were compared to the recommendations of the 2014 S3 Guideline for the prevention of perioperative hypothermia. Especially in the central O.R. units most of the recommendations have already been implemented. However, the actual prewarming strategies do not comply with the recommendations, so that there seems to be a large potential for improvement. Other areas with potential for improvement are the anaesthesia workplaces outside the central O.R. unit like emergency rooms, delivery rooms and radiological and cardiological intervention rooms. Furthermore, a relevant deficit exists in the training of physicians and in the introduction and implementation of standard operating procedures. In summary, our results show that some relevant aspects of perioperative thermal management can be improved to enhance patient safety and to reduce the economic consequences of perioperative hypothermia.