Hospital Gowns Go Hi-Tech To Keep Patient Warm in the OR – Medicare Reporting Begins Friday on P4P

I wish these were around years ago when I had all my surgeries, as yes I remember the cold surgery rooms pretty well. There are several videos here to view.

From the website:

“The Bair Paws system is revolutionizing forced-air warming by providing clinicians access to comfort and clinical warming throughout the perioperative process.

With a single gown, patients may be clinically prewarmed before surgery or receive comfort warming as they await a procedure. Once in the OR, the same gown offers clinical warming for select surgical procedures when connected to a Bair Hugger^® warming unit. The gown continues to warm in PACU, with both comfort and clinical capabilities.

Plus, only the Bair Paws system offers patient-adjustable warming, allowing patients to adjust the temperature of the air flowing through the gown to a level that’s right for them.”

One item too is that it cuts down on laundry and the need for blankets after surgery. As the article mentions there’s money involved too for hospitals with pay for performance with reporting beginning on Friday about maintaining normal body temperature for patients. Keeping body temperature from falling helps with additional heart risk and infection control with wounds and can help reduce the time needed in recovery. BD

As she waited for back surgery at Cooper University Hospital last week, Betty Lindley got a nice surprise.

Instead of the flimsy gown patients have groused about for years, she was given a new type of gown Cooper has been using for the last six months. A machine blows warm air between layers of paper - actually a DuPont fabric made of wood fibers, polypropylene, and polyester - in the gown to keep patients toasty before, during, and after surgery. The look isn't slimming, but Lindley didn't mind. As anyone who has ever visited an operating room knows, surgeons like it a lot colder than their half-dressed patients.

Lindley, who has had surgery before, liked how she felt under the puffy, purple gown. "I've been freezing cold before," she said. "I am warm, and I love it."

The new gowns, which are made by Minnesota-based Arizant Inc. and cost about $15 each, not only make patients feel better - doctors say they also help them heal better.

Plus, there is money at stake. As Medicare expands efforts to tie medical pay to performance, the government is requiring hospitals to report on their efforts to maintain normal body temperatures during surgery, starting Friday. Two percent of pay is connected to reporting on this and other measures known to improve patient results.

Sessler began studying the effect of lowered body temperature in the mid '90s. Allowing a patient's temperature to fall by just two degrees - this can happen easily during surgery - triples the risk of heart problems and wound infections, increases blood loss, and prolongs time in the recovery room 40 percent and in the hospital 20 percent, Sessler said. He has done research on patient warming with and without financial support from Arizant