The effect of cold cap on body temperature in patient undergoing thoracic aortic surgery during general anesthesia

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research, utilizing a two-group posttest-only design, aimed to compare the differences in nasopharyngeal temperatures of patients undergoing thoracic aortic surgery with general anesthesia combined with hypothermic circulatory arrest, between the use of a cold cap and a cold pack. Additionally, the study examined the satisfaction levels of anesthetist nurses regarding the use of the cold cap versus the cold pack. The sample, obtained through purposive sampling, comprised 30 patients undergoing thoracic aortic surgery with general anesthesia combined with hypothermic circulatory arrest. These patients were divided into two groups: a control and an experimental group, with 15 patients in each group. Additionally, 20 anesthetist nurses were included in the study. The tool used in the experiment was a cold cap. The tools used for data collection included a patient record form, a nasopharyngeal temperature record form, and a satisfaction questionnaire for anesthetist nurses. The demographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentages, and mean. The Mann-Whitney U test was employed to compare the mean nasopharyngeal temperatures between the experimental and control groups. In addition, the anesthetist nurse satisfaction questionnaire was analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

The results indicated that there was no significant difference in nasopharyngeal temperature between the experimental and control groups at 15 minutes. However, significant differences were observed at 30, 45, and 60 minutes (p < 0.05). Additionally, there was a significant difference in the satisfaction level of anesthetist nurses between the cold cap and cold pack groups (p < 0.01).