Abstract

Intraoperative management of patient body temperature is a standard of care for practicing anesthesiologists. Merely complying with the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measurement is inadequate for optimizing perioperative outcomes. Clinicians should have a sound understanding of available temperature monitoring sites, deleterious effects of hypothermia, and indications for therapeutic hypothermia. This foundation will help physicians use indicated modalities to improve patient outcomes throughout the perioperative period. The purpose of this paper is to review appropriate intraoperative temperature monitoring, the importance of maintaining normothermia, and indications for intraoperative hypothermia.

Keywords: Perioperative temperature management, surgical care improvement project (SCIP), hypothermia, hyperthermia, normothermia