a.smithrn

That's a really interesting new perspective! But, all the burned areas are completely covered by towels and drapes. None of the exposed skin has been burned. Maybe, though, the heat of the lights is making heat pockets under the drapes?

No warm IV bags.

The ICU says they do not use any warming devices. Patient safety has been involved, but has only monitored prepping in the OR.

No, it's been 3 different ORs with different beds and different bovies. No common equipment or staff members.

I agree, I don't think the burns are occurring in the OR either. For some reason, the OR has been the area of focus since day one.

I have been circulating CT for 10 years and have never encountered this issue: In the past 2 months my OR has had 6 open heart patients that present with partial thickness burns 1-4 days post op. Most of the burns have been in the right or left axilla. At first we thought it was a chemical burn from prep pooling, but we have since changed the way that we prep to ensure there is no pooling and we are still getting burns. It has happened in 3 different ORs, 3 different surgeons, some use chloroprep, some use duraprep. We have had multiple meetings with every department involved in our patients' care and have not been able to find the cause. Any thoughts?