Factors related to body heat loss during the intraoperatory period: analysis of two nursing interventions

Abstract

This study analyzed the influence of factors such as anesthesia and endovenous fluids, whether heated or not, Body Mass Index, temperature and humidity of operating room involved in body heat loss in elderly surgical patients during the intraoperatory period identifying body temperature variance. This was an experimental, comparative field study with a quantitative approach. Eighty-one elderly patients who underwent elective surgery for a minimum of an hour were sorted by a systematic probabilistic sampling into two Experiment groups and one Control group. Data was collected using biophysiologic measures with an auricular thermometer. There was no statistically significant difference between the studied factors and the body temperature variance. This shows that in this study, anesthesia, volume and heating of endovenous fluids, Body Mass Index and temperature and humidity of the operating room had no influence in body heat loss in the studied patients during the intraoperatory period.