Operating rooms are often cold. Often a patient undergoingsurgeryasks, “Why is it so cold in here?” And the response, almost invariably, “It helps lower the risk of infection…” The problem is, that’s completely false. In fact, operating rooms kept cold actually increase the risk of infection. Why is that the case? When a patient’s body temperature cools, the risk of infection goes up.
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Body Temperature and Infections
It turns out, one of the critical factors topreventing infectionis the adequacy of blood flow and the supply of oxygen to tissues. When in a cold environment, the blood vessels of your skin constrict (that’s why your skin turns pale in cold weather). Your body constricts blood vessels in cold environments so as not to waste heat—a process calledthermoregulation.
So Why Is It So Cold in the OR?
The real reason operating rooms are kept so cool is for the comfort of OR personnel, specifically the surgeon. When wearing a sterile gown for a length of time, especially while standing under warm OR lights, your surgeon can become quite hot. The room is often kept cool to keep the surgeon and the staff more comfortable.
What You Can Do
As mentioned, the best thing you can do is ask to be kept warm. While surgeons and other OR staff want to be comfortable, their priority is your comfort, and if they know you are feeling cold, they will surely take the aforementioned steps to help ensure your comfort.
2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Torossian A, Bräuer A, Höcker J, Bein B, Wulf H, Horn EP.Preventing inadvertent perioperative hypothermia.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2015;112(10):166–172. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2015.0166Hakim M, Walia H, Dellinger HL, et al.The effect of operating room temperature on the performance of clinical and cognitive tasks.Pediatr Qual Saf. 2018;3(2):e069. doi:10.1097/pq9.0000000000000069
2 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Torossian A, Bräuer A, Höcker J, Bein B, Wulf H, Horn EP.Preventing inadvertent perioperative hypothermia.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2015;112(10):166–172. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2015.0166Hakim M, Walia H, Dellinger HL, et al.The effect of operating room temperature on the performance of clinical and cognitive tasks.Pediatr Qual Saf. 2018;3(2):e069. doi:10.1097/pq9.0000000000000069
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Torossian A, Bräuer A, Höcker J, Bein B, Wulf H, Horn EP.Preventing inadvertent perioperative hypothermia.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2015;112(10):166–172. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2015.0166Hakim M, Walia H, Dellinger HL, et al.The effect of operating room temperature on the performance of clinical and cognitive tasks.Pediatr Qual Saf. 2018;3(2):e069. doi:10.1097/pq9.0000000000000069
Torossian A, Bräuer A, Höcker J, Bein B, Wulf H, Horn EP.Preventing inadvertent perioperative hypothermia.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2015;112(10):166–172. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2015.0166
Hakim M, Walia H, Dellinger HL, et al.The effect of operating room temperature on the performance of clinical and cognitive tasks.Pediatr Qual Saf. 2018;3(2):e069. doi:10.1097/pq9.0000000000000069
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