Abstract

When a patient is exposed surgical stress, the endocrine system secretes hormones in response to that stress. These hormones further activate the immune system to release cytokines and other acute phase reactions. These processes are supposed to protect the body by upregulating the innate immune system and producing an inflammatory response that acts to protect and heal. However, uncontrolled surgical stress may cause a weaker immune response that may lead to delayed wound healing. The phenomenon of unplanned perioperative hypothermia is known to expose patients to additional surgical stress. The purpose of this preliminary experimental study was to determine the effect of a preoperative warming intervention on the acute phase response of surgical stress in surgical patients. Specifically, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a prewarming intervention using a forced-air warming (FAW) device versus routine care (RC) using warmed cotton blankets on the development of unplanned hypothermia, cytokine production, and endocrine responses. It was hypothesized that (1) the FAW participants would experience less unplanned perioperative hypothermia than the RC participants; (2) the FAW participants would experience lower catecholamine and cortisol levels than the RC participants; and (3) the FAW participants would experience higher proinflammatory cytokine and CRP production intra- and postoperatively than the RC participants.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3306842; ProQuest document ID: 304819228. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Vanda Doreen Wagner, PhD, RN, CNOR

Sigma Membership

Mu Phi at-Large

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Randomized Controlled Trial

Research Approach

Pilot/Exploratory Study

Keywords:

Forced-Air Warming, Stress Relief, Surgical Patients

Advisor

Maureen Groer

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

University of South Florida

Degree Year

2007

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2020-01-06

Full Text of Presentation

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