Perioperative Health Care Professionals’ Knowledge of Evidence-Based Inadvertent Perioperative Hypothermia Management

Abstract

PurposeTo evaluate the perioperative healthcare professionals’ knowledge of evidence-based inadvertent perioperative hypothermia management DesignA descriptive, cross-sectional study. MethodsThe research sample consisted of 219 perioperative nurses and anesthesia technicians working in the university hospital and participating in perioperative care. Data were collected by the researchers using a questionnaire that included descriptive characteristics of healthcare professionals and inadvertent perioperative hypothermia management between March and April 2021. Descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk normality, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U, and Spearman correlation test were used to analyze the data. FindingsIn this study, only 29.2% of the healthcare professionals knew that the threshold value for inadvertent perioperative hypothermia was <36°C. The mean knowledge score of healthcare professionals on the management of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia was 13.78±3.47. The knowledge score of 79.5% of healthcare professionals was moderate level. A significant correlation was determined between inadvertent perioperative hypothermia management knowledge score and education status (p=0.032), task (p<0.001), and mean years in the profession (p=0.02). ConclusionThe knowledge of the healthcare professionals working in the perioperative process about evidence-based practices related to inadvertent perioperative hypothermia management was determined to be moderate. It is recommended to increase the level of knowledge of healthcare professionals by providing training on guidelines regarding inadvertent perioperative hypothermia management.