To be cold or not to be cold?

[Arctickat]

There's no perfect solution, chemical hot packs, blankets, heaters. My personal favorite is 110v heated blankets that plug into the power inverter of our ambulance...provided the victim is less than 100 feet from my ambulance or the Gen Set.

[DwayneEMTP]

I am Kat...I didn't recognize it until you said that... :-)

I saw a blanket once that seemed to be heated from a vahicles exhaust..I can't remember where. But otherwise, what Kat said...

[mobey]

Perhaps your friend was thinking of hypothermia in acute spinal cord injury with deficits.

Jury is still out on that one though.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21416406

[Kn.ght1]

What about a pt who has a spinal cord injury that affects the their ability to control body temperature?

Also what about a pt with a TBI? There in study showing just as in MI therapeutic hypothermia has its benefits in TBI.

Dwayne- Thanks, it's somewhat the best movies out there!

[BushyFromOz]

I think the point with therapeutic hypothermia in TBI is that it is isolated TBI without or controlled gross haemorrhage and the absence of volume loss into cavities or large tissue masses.

[Kn.ght1]

Answered my own question! Obviously I shouldn't be researching at 2am!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11869586

[Emergency Laughter]

I spent eight years in the Bering Sea. Trauma and hypothermia don't play well together. Just my humble opinion of course. I never saw any benefit for head or spinal injuries either. I had plenty of time to make this observation too. I had some trauma patients for two days before I could get them off the ship.

As far as heating patients...we did everything from heating and insulating O2 and fluids to chem packs to hot air and liquid pads and blankets used in surgical units.