In an effort to promote quality care in a cost-effective way, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) adopted the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measure, "SCIP-Inf-10 – Surgery Patients with Perioperative Temperature Management."
The measure requires acute care inpatient facilities to use active warming (forced-air warming, for example) intraoperatively or achieve the target temperature of 36.0°C within 30 minutes immediately before or 15 minutes after anesthesia end time. The measure applies to patients of all ages, including pediatrics, undergoing surgical procedures under general or neuraxial anesthesia for 60 minutes or more.1
Why is this normothermia measure beneficial?
Unintended hypothermia is a risk for all anesthetized patients undergoing surgery. Research shows that core body temperature drops rapidly following the induction of general anesthesia, increasing the risk for unintended hypothermia - an all-too common and costly complication associated with higher mortality rates2, longer hospital stays3 and an increased rate of wound infection.4
For additional information on SCIP-Inf-10, download this information sheet.
