Iodophor is the most commonly used skin disinfectant in the operating room. Since a large area of the skin of the surgical field needs to be exposed and disinfected during the operation, it is likely to cause massive heat loss of the patient’s skin. In addition, the operation is risky and invasive, during which the patients’ body temperature drops. On this occasion, iodophor disinfection may produce a strong sense of cold stimulation, resulting in patient discomfort and affecting the surgery negatively [21].
Previous studies have shown that the cold stimulation generated by local disinfection of the skin of surgical field with iodophor can affect abdominal and visceral sensory thresholds [22]. In this study, the application effect of iodophor at two temperatures on skin disinfection of the surgical field was compared. The results showed that the disinfection efficacy in the observation group (96.00%) was higher than that in the control group (81.33%); the blood pressure and heart rate after disinfection in the observation group were lower than those in the control group; the body temperature was higher than that in the control group; the cold sensation of skin was weaker and gastrointestinal adverse reactions after disinfection were less than those in the control group, suggesting that the constant temperature iodophor is effective in the skin disinfection of surgical field, which has little negative effect on the vital signs of patients, and helps to reduce cold sensation of skin and gastrointestinal reactions [23]. The main reason may be due to the fact that at room temperature (24°C ) iodophor removes a large amount of heat from the patients’ body surface and increases the sensitivity of the skin and viscera. Cold stimulation from iodophor increases the sensitivity of peripheral temperature receptors and central cold-sensitive neurons in the body while decreases the excitability of the thermogenic central nervous system [24]. This affects patients’ normal vital signs. However, iodophor at body temperature has fewer negative effects on the vital signs of patients, which is more suitable for the skin. It can reduce patients’ stress response, promote incision healing, thus obtaining higher disinfection satisfaction from patients [25]. In this study, the levels of MDA, GSH-PX and SOD after disinfection in the observation group were lower than those in the control group; the incidence rate of complications in the observation group was lower than that in the control group; the incision healing rate was higher than that in the control group; the satisfaction with the disinfection method, disinfection effect, prevention of complications, postoperative recovery and disinfection times in the observation group was higher than that in the control group. This demonstrates that iodophor at body temperature used for skin disinfection of the surgical field can reduce the stress response, improve the disinfection satisfaction and promote the incision healing. Chen Jing et al. reported that the iodophor solution close to human body temperature could significantly reduce the physiological stimulation to the patients during the disinfection compared with the iodophor solution at the operating room temperature, which is consistent with the results of this study [26]. Where the patient’s body is less prone to stress response, which is conducive to the recovery after surgery.
However, there are also many shortcomings in this study. The sample size in the study is small, which needs to be further verified by studies with larger sample size. Besides, there might be some human errors in data processing, which needs to be further studied and discussed.
In summary, the application of iodophor at body temperature in the disinfection of the skin of surgical field can obtain a good disinfection effect, with fewer effects on the blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature of patients. It helps to reduce the cold skin sensation, the incidence rate of gastrointestinal adverse reactions and complications, promote the incision healing and improve the disinfection satisfaction. Therefore it is worthy of being widely promotion.