With around 310 million major surgeries occurring globally each year, and of that, it is estimated that 4% of these patients die. Making the estimated annual global mortality of a major surgery up to 8 million patients. Majority of these deaths do not occur during surgery, but during the 30-day postoperative period. This number is estimated to increase to 12 million patient deaths by 2030, due to the increasing number of major surgeries occurring.1 With staggering numbers, this places major surgeries as a leading cause of death.
A major surgery holds a huge impact that includes a lot of side effects, one of the main ones being postoperative stress. Surgeries are a high level stress inducing practice that oftentimes has more of an impact on a patient then what is visible. Post-surgical stress is more common than most would think. A patient who undergoes surgery, especially a major one, puts their body through trauma such as anesthesia, incisions, excisions, manipulation and suturing.1 A patient’s stress depends on the surgery they undergo as well as their body’s stress response.
With surgical stress, it starts after the induction of anesthesia and the first incision. At this point, the stress response begins with an increase in sympathetic discharge that needs to be contained or it will have various effects on the whole body. Reducing surgical stress can help prevent secondary injury to the patient.1
Although one cannot control how a patient’s body responds to certain stressors, specialists can be aware of what they should be monitoring or how to help reduce stress in any way. For example, monitoring blood pressure or core body temperature.1 Monitoring your patient in every aspect is vital to ensure you track how their body responds to every aspect of the surgical procedure.
According to the American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) and Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS) guidelines, all major surgeries or any procedure lasting longer than 30 minutes requires the monitoring of a patient’s core body temperature.2,3
Monitoring a patient’s core body temperature can give insight on how their body is responding to the surgical procedure. To keep your patients safe, specialists should use accurate products that provide patient comfort. Starboard Medical’s temperature probe line offers products that will monitor your patient accurately. Click here to read more about Starboard Medical’s temperature management line.
