Re: Hypothermia in the field

[Guest guest]

Well, I may receive some flak for this but we keep a heating pad covered by a

towel in our unit to keep our Mannitol warm. Since there is plenty of room on

the heating pad we stick a couple of bags of LR. Our units are temperature

controlled but ambient temps fluctuate rapidle so sometimes the outside temp is

80 and someone puts the AC on full blast; the outside temp drops to 40 within

hours and the box temp is still set at 70, obviously the heater does not kick

in. Keeps the Mannitol from crystalizing and keeps the LR warm.

AC, LP, AAS

WEGandy@... wrote:

> Hello all,

>

> In Texas (unless you live in Amarillo, the second coldest place in the known

> universe) usually our winters are not that harsh, but even then, IV solutions

> that are cooler than normal body temp are not great. Our trauma docs are now

> suggesting that we keep IV fluids warm and also keep the back of the truck as

> hot as you can get it with trauma patients. The trauma rooms are kept around

> 88 degrees F. here.

>

> I spent a winter in Chicago (shiver) and found that they knew a lot about

> hypothermia resuscitation that us Texans don't. For one thing, the Chicago

> FD ambulances are kept in heated stations so the fluids never get that cold,

> and they also use the tricks outlined in this post to warm them.

>

> Perhaps somebody from Alaska, MT, CO, WY, SD, ND, MN and so forth will help

> us out here. I think there are available heaters for this purpose. When I

> was with a country volunteer service we would keep an electric heater going

> in the back of the truck when it was in the unheated garage and put some IV

> bags in an electric blanket hooked to the inverter. Worked very well.

>

> Gene Gandy

>

> In a message dated 12/13/1999 12:28:39 Central Standard Time,

> dlfulle@... writes:

>

> Besides what you have already mentioned, on the way to a potential

> hypothermia call I have already placed the IV solutions on the dash and

> turned the defroster on " high. " This doesn't warm the fluids too much, but

> it does bring them to a little bit above room temp. I haven't done a study,

> but I would suspect that most fluid in ambulance are below room temp in the

> winter, and they are definitely below body temp.

>

>

> Dave

>

>

> Other than hotpacks in the groin, axilla, around the neck and such, what

> else do you folks do for prehospital treatment of hypothermia.

>

> Specifically, does anyone try to warm their IV fluids and if so, how.

>

> Is there any risk, other than getting too hot, for sticking the IV bag in

> the microwave? Has anyone ever done this?

>

> Please, not looking for another flame war. Just some serious discussion.

>

>

>

>

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