Background and Goal of Study: Unintentional hypothermia is known to occur in perioperative setting and the associated adverse events are well documented. We audited the incidence of hypothermia in patients admitted to Post Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU) to verify the influence of perioperative warming measures and monitoring. 
Material and methods: As a part of our departmental quality control initiatives, we are auditing the incidence of hypothermia (temp< 36°C) in all adult patients on admission to PACU. Temperature is recorded with Genius™ 2 tympanic thermometer and plotted on the PACU monitoring chart. The reported incidence is compared with previous audit report in 2013, prior to institution of protocols for prevention of hypothermia. 
Results and discussion: The audit done in 2013 showed 40% incidence of hypothermia in patients admitted to PACU, 79% of them received general anaesthesia. Intraoperative temperature monitoring was done in only 8% cases and warming measures were done in 24% of cases. After the audit, programs were conducted to improve the awareness among anaesthesiologists to use intraoperative temperature monitoring and implementation of protocol to prevent perioperative hypothermia. Continual audit of temperature on arrival to PACU showed progressive improvement and the average incidence in the first 6 months of 2015 is 5% with a range of 3-9% (Figure-1). http://www.abstractserver.com/ESA2016/pictures/p_732_00273.jpg
Conclusion: Prevention of perioperative hypothermia is part of standard of care in modern anaesthesia practice. Anaesthesiologists can take initiatives for the same starting from the preoperative period. Preventing perioperative shivering and hypothermia can also lead to improved patient comfort. From our experience we would suggest continued auditing of perioperative hypothermia to reinforce awareness regarding prevention of hypothermia.

Clinical audit on impact of protocol based management in preventing the incidence of perioperative hypothermia