Evaluation of knowledge levels and attitudes of orthopedic physicians about inadvertent perioperative hypothermia

Background: Inadvertent perioperative hypothermia (IPH) may cause to increase of prolonged duration of action of various anesthetic agents, increased need for blood transfusion due to increased intraoperative blood loss, emergence of various cardiac problems such as arrhythmias, prolonged recovery time after anesthesia, increased probability of infection at the site of surgical wound, and cost of hospital stay. The aim of this study is to increase the awareness of clinicians about the prevention and treatment of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia by evaluating the knowledge of orthopedic surgeons. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out between January and June 2018 in total 201 orthopedic physicians working in different positions in different hospitals. Before the study, the aim of the study was explained to the physicians and their oral informed consent was obtained. The data were collected through a questionnaire consisting of 28 items which were developed by the researchers from the literature and questioned the participants' demographic information, perioperative hypothermia awareness, complications and prevention methods. Results: The mean age of the participants was 34.14 ± 8.10 and 44.3% were assistants, 46.8% were experts, and 9.0% were faculty members. Only 18.5% of the volunteers had 10 or more years of professional experience. A total of 17 (8.5%) participants, including 9 residents and eight specialist physicians, received training on unwanted perioperative hypothermia (IPD). Only 18.9% of participants were informed about the mechanism of IP formation. When the participants were asked to rate their knowledge on IPI between 1-10, their average score was 3.70 ± 1.80. In addition, when the participants were grouped as assistant (3.52 ± 1.75), expert (3.72 ± 1.81) and academician (4.47 ± 1.97), the highest score was found in the academician group. Conclusion: Our study showed that orthopedists have some general knowledge about IPH, complications and prevention. However, it has been revealed that the majority of them do not receive education in the academic education process. Considering the importance of IPH, we think that it is necessary to give basic information about IPH especially in the core education process in surgical branches