Patient Warming, Surgeon Cooling
Re: "7 Ways to Warm Your Patients Without Inflaming Your Staff" (July, page 48). I found Ms. Chitwood's article informative. For 30 years, I've spent many long hours in the operating rooms treating gynecologic malignancies. In addition to addressing the importance of temperature control for the patient, the article makes the very important observation that the doctor under wraps for long hours needs his environment better supported as well.

A warming technique that's been very helpful to me is keeping the lap pads and the saline you use to irrigate the body cavity in a heated washbasin filled with warm saline. This helps decrease the heat loss from the "open body spaces" and helps to ensure my patients arrive in the recovery area stable and not battling the ravages of hypothermia.

Myron H. Lutz, MD
Roper/Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital
Charleston, S.C.
writeMail("drlutz2@comcast.net")