Warming bundle for patients with microvascular free-flaps: A quality improvement project.

DISEASE risk factors; SURGICAL flaps; THERMOTHERAPY; FLUID therapy; MICROSURGERY; INTRAOPERATIVE care; PLASTIC surgery; POSTOPERATIVE care; MEDICAL thermometers; MEDICAL care costs; RETROSPECTIVE studies; COMPARATIVE studies; T-test (Statistics); RISK assessment; CONCEPTUAL structures; QUALITY assurance; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; CHI-squared test; BODY temperature regulation; DATA analysis software; BEDDING; ECONOMICS

The article describes the implementation of a warming bundle project at an academic medical center aimed to prevent the incidence of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia (IPH) in head and neck cancer patients undergoing free-flap microvascular surgery. The study compared pre- and intra-operative temperature, body mass index, estimated blood loss and surgery duration before and after implementation of patient warming bundle and it examined the occurrence of IPH.