Active Warming

[Lotus]

What are the indications and contraindications of active warming? are there any risks other than burns and hyperthermia?

[Arctickat]

Indication - Hypothermia

Contraindication - Hyperthermia

[Lotus]

Well yeah, but multiple ones or is that literally it? I hate how the book words things

[Aussieaid]

Active rewarming can cause arrhythmias and metabolic derangements as well as the risk of afterdrop and rewarming hypovolemia.

[Chief1C]

We don't use anything that could cause burns, when warming a patient. I have the separating layer rule; which applies to heat or cold. Heat or cold therapy should be neither uncomfortable nor harmful, if done properly. If it's too warm or too cold on MY skin, I quickly improve the barrier before I place it on the patient.

[DwayneEMTP]

What is 'after drop?'

[Aussieaid]

When someone's really cold the blood is shunted away from the peripheries (shut down) and to the core organs....when you start warming them up and they start vasodilating then the cold blood starts getting circulated to the core organs and their body temperature can actually drop more. Or that is my simplified understanding of the phenomenom! Correct me if I have it wrong...

[Arctickat]

When someone's really cold the blood is shunted away from the peripheries (shut down) and to the core organs....when you start warming them up and they start vasodilating then the cold blood starts getting circulated to the core organs and their body temperature can actually drop more. Or that is my simplified understanding of the phenomenom! Correct me if I have it wrong...

You're essentially correct. We need to rewarm an individual slowly to prevent cold extremty blood from circulating back to the warmer(comparatively) heart and causing it to fibrillate.

[chbare]

There is actually evidence that does not support this theory. A decrease in core temperature can occur, but the mechanism may not be as clear as some think. We traditionally believe that peripheral vasidilation leads to the phenomena, but there is literature from the mid to late 80's if I remember that looked at rewarming people who were placed in states of mild hypothermia and rewarmed. The physiology of thermoregulation may be even more complex than we think. I'll see if I can pull the article or at least an abstract.

[Vorenus]

If I can remember correctly, the reoccuring hypothermia isn`t the biggest problem, but rather the possibility of the occurence of dangerous arrythmias, if the cold blood flows through the heart.