Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Nicola Smith — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:38:15 GMT

You can get second hand recom gair huggers from some of the used medical equipment sites for a good priceand vet inst do reusable blankets!

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Geniverger — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:48:17 GMT

*cool the room even

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Geniverger — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:44:56 GMT

I always think it's good if I'm feeling a bit warm, I can go check my patients and see if they've warmed up nicely. In our practice it's a lot easier to cool the took down than to warm it up so I'd rather be feeling a bit hot. Good deodorant helps ;)

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Leigh Hinsley RVN NCert(BDev) MBVNA — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:46:42 GMT

[quote user="Geniverger"]

It sounds obvious but having a warm room to start with really makes a difference. I'm often getting tutted at for having an overly warm kennels area but I've noticed much quicker patient recoveries when the ambient temperature is 22 or 23 degrees.

[/quote]

It sounds obvious but rarely happens because staff working up a sweat get hot and blast the air con on in the kennels and the theatre. I think if I come downstairs from the lounge and find myself with goosebumps, imagine what the poor patients must be feeling! Thanks everyone, and thanks Nick - I'm going to look into them websites and put something conclusive together for the partners.

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Geniverger — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:58:21 GMT

I put all my patients on heat pads as soon as they're premedded as ACP causes a drop in temperature due to vasoconstriction. All patients are on heat pads during and after surgery, and wheaties used where appropriate (I've found using a big wheatie under smaller patients, e.g. cat spay helps to keep the patient balanced as you can mould the wheatie. Obviously there's a towel between the wheatie and the patient). I use blankets where appropriate also, for example between xrays or on patients having distal limb or head surgery where the vet doesn't need to get to the body. Little things like using warm water and hibi instead of cold to prep the surgical site also have an effect on body temperature.

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Nick Shackleton — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:58:57 GMT

We used to charge the cost of the blanket to the client, therefore all your paying for is the electricity to run the machine in theory!

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Fuzzyduck — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:54:03 GMT

We use heat pads and blankets during routine ops, for longer ops we use a bair hugger. We got our machine free when buying the blankets, which are fairly expensive if you just use single use then chuck, which we do.

My last practice we would use the blankets a couple of times before throwing them away but ive since discovered washable and reusable blankets which would be great in the long run and far cheaper, im pretty sure i saw them in vet direct. So if your practice bought the machine you could convince them that in the long run it would be cheaper to buy the washable blankets

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Nick Shackleton — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:31:01 GMT

Advanced Anaesthesia Specialist do some good stuff! I know they were doing an offer a few years ago where youbrought so many warming blankets per quarter you got a free warming unit. not sure if they are still doing this offer.

http://www.aasmedical.co.uk/

http://www.aasmedical.co.uk/index.php?id=32

Various warm air blankets and warmer plus in-line fluid warmer. Connect close to patient, constantly warms fluid to 39C.

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Leigh Hinsley RVN NCert(BDev) MBVNA — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:17:28 GMT

I agree that hot hands are more of a risk than a gain. Silly question, does anyone know how much these bair huggers are? I'd love my practice to get one but doubt it will happen so might have to request we invest in more blankets and socks.

We do have an incubator too but its for smallies so you can only fit an average sized cat in there at a push and I worry about them over heating at the thermostat can rocket in a blink of an eye.

Can anyone recommend a type/brand of IV fluid line warmer? We've looked at a lot on the market that vary in size, style and price greatly!

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Nick Shackleton — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:28:26 GMT

Bair hugger, In line fluid warmer (warming fluids prior to admin is usually pointless as by the time fluid reaches patient it is cool), 'socks'. On patient's having limb surgery, especially the smaller ones vest are applied using sofban and stockinet. Not keen on hot hands as they can pop far to easily. Have used OOT fluid bags warmed in the microwave. Snuggle safes.

We also have incubator which obviously warms the patient post operatively. Have also used heat pads and heated op tables in the past. Where I used to work. we constantly monitored patient's temp using an oesophgeal monitoring probe so that warming can be decreased or increased especially during prolonged procedures

Re: Hypothermia during anaesthesia

Nicola Smith — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:47:32 GMT

We use bair hugger on longer ops that we think may get a problem, or high risk patients eg tinies, we find it woks fantastically well and have noticed much faster recoveries.

We do use warmed iv fluids too. They dont take long to set up and if you do prior to GA all ready to go and no hold ups - fine once you get in the habit of it!