Quote:
| Originally Posted by David Pye Does anyone specifically use warm air/o2 to warm casualties up?
I would have thought it wouldn't have made THAT much difference as gas is a relatively poor conductor of heat.
Perhaps someone more up to speed with hypothermia treatment could confirm - I thought it involved warm water baths etc? |
I am occasionally involved in warming very hypothermic patients, and frequently involved in warming mildly hypothermic patients. Although it wouldnt make a massive difference in actively warming someone, warmed air it is part of a load of things you can do. Its not so much that it actively warms but more that a lot of heat energy is used (by the body) in warming and humdifying the air that we breath in so doing this in advance does help. Others things include simple external heating eg blankets, warming the environment etc. Warmed intravenous fluids. More invasive measures which are less often used include putting warmed fluid into bladders/ stomach/ peritoneal cavity etc and in extreme cases you can take blood out, warm it and then out it back in. However I dont think someone being hypothermic is a reason not to give oxygen.
HTH
Helen
Edit: Obviously most of the things mentioned above are only things that could be done in a hospital setting the best thing that can be done in the community is dry the casualty, wrap them up well and get them to hospital.