Purpose for the program: The purpose of this presentation is to share an evidence-based practice process to meet the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) criteria of the patient temperature on admission to the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) of thirty-six degrees Centigrade. This practice also shows a reduction in nursing interventions to treat hypothermia in the post-anesthesia care unit, and a significant reduction in surgical site infections after cesarean section.

Proposed change: The proposed change in nursing practice is to pre-warm the maternal-surgical patient with a forced air warmer prior to entering the OR suite.

Implementation, outcomes and evaluation: All maternity patients are warmed during the pre-operative period for 30 minutes.  This pre-warming occurs while the admitting nurse is taking the patient history, starting the IV, and monitoring the fetal heart tones, etc. prior to the surgery.  The outcome of this project shows the surgical site infection rate for post cesarean sections dropping from 2.6% to 1.5% during the quarter in which the project was implemented. Due to the reduced infection rate there is a reduced cost in patient readmissions to the hospital and return to physician’s offices for surgical site care.

Implications for nursing practice: Implications for nursing practice involve a one-step pre-warming process that takes place during the pre-operative period with a forced air warmer for scheduled cesarean sections. This practice takes place during the time the nurse is doing other tasks to prepare the patient for surgery.  On admission to the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), fewer nursing interventions are required to treat hypothermia after the surgery.

Keywords: pre-warming prior to cesarean section, Surgical Care Improvement Project, SCIP, surgical site infection, SSI, forced air warmer