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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
An 8 page research paper that discusses hypothermia as a side-effect of surgery. The writer defines this term and discusses the physiological mechanisms that control body temperature. Then, the writer examines the variables associated with surgery that affect the patient's risk for developing hypothermia. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Page Count:
8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khhypo2.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
2002). However, Panagiotis, et al, define hypothermia as being "a core temperature that is greater than one standard deviation below the mean value under resting conditions in a thermoneutral environment"
(Panagiotis, et al, 2005, p. 379). Core temperature is defined as the "blood temperature of the central circulatory system," that is, the blood in the heart, lungs and brain stem
(Panagiotis, et al, 2005, p. 379). In an operating room (OR), a decrease in body temperature is due to heat loss caused by exposure to a low-temperature environment combined with
the disruption of normal thermoregulatory mechanisms of the body due to anesthesia induction (Panagiotis, et al, 2005). General volatile or IV anesthetic medications, as well as neuromuscular blocking agents, generate
vasodilation and lack muscular tone, which results in health loss (Panagiotis, et al, 2005). Regional anesthesia also has the potential to induce hypothermia due to increased shivering and vasoconstriction thresholds
(Panagiotis, et al, 2005). The body controls temperature through mechanisms in the hypothalamus, specifically the preoptic area receives data about the bodys relative loss or heat gain through afferent pathways
(Nicoll, 2002). Gradients are sensed deviations between the bodys set point and level of body temperature (Nicoll, 2002). When the hypothalamus senses a gradient, it signals, through efferent control centers,
messages that initiate either warming or cooling responses to these deviations (Nicoll, 2002). Due to the fact that hypothermia reduces metabolic oxygen requirements, this condition has proven to be
a protective factor when a patient is suffering from cerebral or cardiac ischemia; however, post-operative hypothermia has been associated with an increased morality rate (Morgan, et al, 2002). Post-operative shivering
not only increases oxygen consumption by as much as a five-fold factor, but it also decreases arterial oxygen saturation and has, therefore, been associated with an increased risk of myocardial
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