Background and Purpose: Maintaining normal body temperature in the perioperative period is very important. General anesthesia and laparoscopic surgery are especially associated with a high risk of hypothermia, and women have a lower body temperature t...
Background and Purpose: Maintaining normal body temperature in the perioperative period is very important. General anesthesia and laparoscopic surgery are especially associated with a high risk of hypothermia, and women have a lower body temperature than men. The hands and feet play an important role in regulating body temperature. Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of warming hands and feet using cotton wrappers during the perioperative period on body temperature, shivering, and thermal comfort in gynecological laparoscopic surgery patients.
Methods: In a randomized controlled pre-post experimental design, from December 1, 2022 to March 10, 2023 at I university Hospital in B city, the participants who were scheduled to undergo gynecological laparoscopic surgery were randomly assigned to the experimental group and comparison group, with 30 participants in each group for the final data analysis. The same routine thermal care was applied to both groups during the perioperative period, and hands and feet warming using cotton wrappers was additionally provided to the experimental group during the perioperative period. The effects of the intervention were
analyzed using the mean tympanic body temperature (℃), shivering, thermal comfort, and provision of additional warming. The collected data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, χ2-test, t-test, and repeated measures ANOVA using IBM SPSS/win 22.0.
Results: During the entire perioperative period, there was a significant difference in the body temperature between experimental and comparison groups (F=10.70, p<.001). Specifically, there was a significant difference in body temperature during surgery (F=9.51, p<.001), but no significant difference after surgery in the recovery room (F=2.48, p=.063)Shivering occurred in 13.3% of the experimental group and 43.3% of the comparison group, showing a significant difference (χ2=5.56, p=.018). Thermal comfort during the perioperative period measured in the recovery room and patient ward was significantly higher in the
experimental group than in the comparison group, respectively (t=13.00, p<.001; t=12.50, p<.001). The number of patients who received additional warming after surgery was 23.3% in the experimental group and 63.3% in the comparison group, showing a significant difference (χ2=4.24, p=.040)
Conclusion: In summary, perioperative warming hands and feet using cotton wrappers for patients undergoing gynecologic laparoscopic surgery reduced body temperature changes during surgery and shivering, increased thermal comfort, and less needed additional warming. Implementing perioperative thermal care of keeping hands and feet warm can contribute to improve physical conditions for patients undergoing surgery.