Dr. Hiebert’s VetOR Takeaway: Economic Complications of Hypothermia.
This is not a high-level financial analysis but a reminder that Hypothermia is not without economic consequences.
Previous Intra-operative and Post-operative Complications of Hypothermia Takeaways reference the consequences of prolonged blood clotting, prolonged post anesthesia recovery and impaired wound healing with post-operative wound infections.
Standard overhead costs in every Veterinary facility using the 2019 Well Managed Veterinary Practice Benchmarks Study:
- Clinic overhead costs per DVM - $3 to $4 per minute
- In hospital procedure costs:
- Soft tissue surgery - $5 to $6 per minute
- General surgery - $8 to $9 per minute
- Orthopedic and specialized surgery - $9 to $10 per minute
- Post anesthesia recovery costs - $150 to $200 per hour
Practical Clinical Scenario:
An orthopedic procedure ($9 to $10/min) in which the patient is 2 to 3 Deg F below body temp.
Consequences:
- Poor blood clotting extends the case by 30 minutes - Facility cost - $300 - Anesthesia recovery extended by 1.5 to 2 hours ($150 - $200/hour) - Facility cost - $400
Increased procedure related costs - $700
- Impaired wound healing and wound infection requiring
two extra 30 minute visits with Veterinarian ($3 to $4/ minute) - Facility cost - $240
plus supplies and antibiotics Minimum Extra Costs to the facility - $940 plus supplies and antibiotics
Any profit from the procedure has been quickly dissipated by the increased overhead.
- Quick Takeaway -
Preventing Hypothermia costs significantly less than treating the adverse outcomes of Hypothermia
For solutions to your veterinary operating room, please check out our website with the link below:
www.VetORSolutions.com
Dr Hiebert’s Vet OR Takeaway: 4 Phases of Patient Warming
1. Preoperative Warming–
- start by warming in a cage – use a cage adaptor to attach warm air blower
- Use an active warming surface for: (eg. HoverHeat) - induction of anesthesia
- placement of patient monitors
- pre-op prep
- retain body heat – thermal retention blanket (example the ConRad Thermal Blankets)
- 81 percent of the body heat loss that will occur, happens in the first 30 to 60 minutes after anesthetic induction
Most important time to start active warming and heat retention.
Minimize the delay between pre-op and intra-op warming.
- for every minute of delay there is a drop in core body temperature of
5%.
2. Intraoperative Warming–
- minimize the time from pre-op to intra-op warming
- use active warming on as large a body surface area as possible - implement measures to retain heat emanating from the:
- patient
- active warming device
3. Postoperative Warming–
- continue active warming and heat retention until the patient is awake
- Quick Takeaway -
Start warming before and during anesthesia induction and minimize the delay between pre-op and intra-op warming.
Please go to our website to order some of our solutions for your vet operating room.
https://vetorsolutions.com
Here is this weeks Dr. Hiebert’s Vet OR Takeaway! Three Phases of Hypothermia During General Anesthesia: Three phases of hypothermia during general anesthesia •Phase 1 - rapid decrease in body temperature in the first hour (starts upon induction)• Due to redistribution of blood flow from the core to the peripheral bloodvessels• *81 Percent of Heat Loss that will potentially occur during the course ofthe anesthetic, happens during Phase 1*• Phase 2 - slow decline of body temperature in the next 2 to 4 hours• Heat loss exceeds metabolic heat production by 20 to 40 percent• Phase 3 - core temperature stability after 4 hours• Metabolic body heat production equals body heat loss- Quick Takeaway -Phase 1 is the period of greatest body heat loss and, therefore, the best time toimplement Hypothermia prevention measures.For more information about our products, and how they could save lives in your operating room, please check out our website: https://vetorsolutions.com
This weeks episode of Dr. Hiebert’s Quick Takeaway!
Each week he will be sharing lessons learned in the veterinary operating room which have practical application to the care of patients in your OR.
The patient care problems cited in the “Quick Takeaways” have solutions. Dr Hiebert has developed patient care products on a physiologic basis for the Veterinary OR that solve these problems. Browse through our website to review the patient positioning and patient warming products that are your solutions.
https://vetorsolutions.com
Dr. Hiebert’s Quick Takeaway - Understanding Body Heat Loss During Anesthetic Induction
Each week he will be sharing lessons learned in the OR which have practical application to the care of patients in your OR.
The patient care problems cited in the “Quick Takeaways” have solutions. Dr Hiebert has developed patient care products on a physiologic basis for the Veterinary OR that solve these problems. Browse through our website to review the patient positioning and patient warming products that are your solutions.
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Are you struggling to keep your patients warm during veterinary procedures? You can get true under and/over body warming with the patented HoverHeat by VetORSolutions.
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Are you struggling to keep your patients warm during veterinary procedures? You can get true under and/over body warming with the patented HoverHeat by VetORSolutions.
.
#veterinarymedicine #animalcare #veterinaryinnovations #vetschool #vetgirl #vetdoc #animaldoc #animaldoctor #vetORsolutions #veterinaryhealth #veterinarian #animalhealth #animalhealthcare #bestORpractices #veterinaryscience #vetorsolutions
