heat pads

Re: heat pads

Claire Bloor — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:20:03 GMT

Some very good advice :-) Should have some toasty patients.

You may also want to think about pre-warming patients before they even go to surgery. This is a big area for research in human medicine and really is something we should think about to ensure our patients do not become hypothermic perioperatively.

You can use Google to do an adequate, basic search for supporting literature. Just type in 'pre warming surgery' or something similar and it should come up with some interesting reading.

Re: heat pads

Steph Smith BSc(hons) RVN — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:36:33 GMT

I second the bubble wrap to conserve the patient's own warmth. I did some research on periop temperature maintenance and covering the extremeties significantly increased the patient's core body temp - sorry can't remember which evidence-based journal it was from... Bair huggers are ideal really and you can buy the units 2nd-hand/cheaper.

We have one of those green pressure-sentitive vinyl heatpads, supposed to be switched on 1 hour beforehand(!) to warm up. I try to remember to pop it in a clean kennel at the end of the day under the bedding, and turn it on when I come in the next morning and shove a bottle of flash on top to get it working so it's "warm" by the time the patient is admitted. Not any good on its own really. I use it perioperatively with bubble wrap, fleecy blankets, and hot hands. If on IVFT in theatre I wrap the giving set around a hot hand near to the patient's IV cath, if on IVFT and conscious I wrap a hot hand around the bag and use vetwrap to keep it on there. The hands need frequent warming doing this though. Don't know if this is really any good but must be better than nothing, right?! I love snugglesafes for kittens/bunnies and small bodies, but they can be really cumbersome to try and fit comfortably under a patient. And they are a bit hard (solid) for the patient to be laying on.

Warming patients in a cradle..?

I do struggle with finding where to put heating equipment on a patient when they are GA'd on the ops table in VD and in a cradle (especially small bodies/buns) - can't use the heatpad cause it doesn't bend enough, snugglesafe doesn't fit. And with small bodies you don't have much space under the drapes to shove hot hands/blankets! I try to get the sandbags out to prop the patient up, instead of using the cradle, but the vets are so used to using the cradle that the patient is usually put in it before I get a chance to hide it away:-) I guess heated wheatbags with a heatpad underneath might be something to try..?

If you have heatable wheatbags how do you keep them clean..?

Re: heat pads

Elaine Nolan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:18:29 GMT

for cats/dogs we use blankets/fleeces and heat pads plus our surgery light has a heat lamp incorporated into it. for the birds and small furries we use bubble wrap on tails and rice bombs(uncooked rice in a sports sock and in the microwave for 1-2 mins each)they really hold the heat and can also be used to prop up patients to keep them in sternal. for the reptiles its mostly heat mats, the lamp and if needed the hairdryer does brilliant for warming them up.

Re: heat pads

Jill Macdonald — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:07:35 GMT

We used the foil blanlets mentioned previously - they work great - I think they were 'Petsavers' and were about £1, but you could get about 8 cat-sized ones out of that.. Then a layer of bubble wrap, then a nice fluffy blanket on top of that - and wrap up well so that it traps all the warm air.

We used the Snugglesafe heatpads a lot - just don't heat them up to full temp (so they're warm rather than hot) and wrap them in bubble wrap to prevent any scalding...

Re: heat pads

zara — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:19:38 GMT

pre surgery after pre med - little jackets

peri & post surgery - warm air blankets

Re: heat pads

Mark Hedberg — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:51:01 GMT

Heated bean bags and bubble wrap with the bubbles on the inside! Keeps 'em toasty! :)

Re: heat pads

therainyj — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:12:47 GMT

Hi Bev,

We use pressure sensitive heat mats, the bear hugger on occasion and fluid warmers if administering IVTF. You can buy these, or just wrap a WARM (not hot) bean bag or hot hands on the paw-end of the drip line, warming the fluid as it goes in. Warming the drip bag itself invariably becomes cold by the time it reaches the patient.

Try covering any part of the animal that is not surgically prepped in a towel to prevent heat loss. We also use bubble wrap or space blankets (foil - type silver blankets). Super effective when wrapped around paws and tail.

Small mammals and reptiles also benefit from warm sub cut fluids and a heat lamp.

We have portable radiators (or just switch on your wall mounted one!) which we turn on and close the ward door as the patient is going into theatre, this ensures the room is toasty on their return.

Make sure you monitor temperature VERY carefully and consider recumbant patients (as they often are for a period post anaesthetic) - can they move off the heat source of they want to? I have seen a cat lose all of the skin along his back from lying on a heat mat for too long post ananesthetic (not our fault - a referral!).

Hope this helps

Re: heat pads

Emma Purnell — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:13:47 GMT

One thing I have started doing that seems to yield good results, even if you don't have much time or even bubble wrap, sticking a light dressing using just soffban and vetrap on all four feet will help conserve some heat

We also use pressure sensitive heat pads, hot hands, plenty of warm blankets and warmed fluids, but I am always trying to get more!

Re: heat pads

bongo — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:34:55 GMT

bair huggers and hot dogs, both I like equally and i use them in diff circumstances depending on the surgery being performed. After surgery to keep them warm we mainly use bair huggers, heat mats or just bean bags although keeping on top of temp peri op with oesophageal temp probe means that they never return massively hypothermic anyway in most cases. Good old bubble wrap is fantastic but this is for keeping the heat in rather that actually warming them up. booties made from bubble wrap or knitted ones are great for keeping in temp. Warm fluids and placing g set in warm water bath I have used before. Dont know how effective this is but makes me feel better for doing everything I can for a chilly patient.

Re: heat pads

Nicola Smith — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:15:10 GMT

We have a bair hugger which is fab, also cover them up after with blankets to preserve heat after, or if fvery sick patients kep them on the bair hugger through recovery.

Re: heat pads

Sarah Southworth RVN CertVNECC — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:24:18 GMT

We use petsavers heat pads, warm up with pressure applied. Also use bubble wrap, some like to use 'hot hands'. I also try to keep the theatre and recovery rooms nice and warm. Also good to keep them warm after pre-med as can drop temp aswell.

Would love to have a bear hugger

Re: heat pads

Ben Gardner RVN — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:59:35 GMT

I used a pressure heat mat in my previous practice and didnt find it to be much good. Whats the average temp of your dog on recovery using this heat pad?

Ben

Re: heat pads

Steph SVN — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:31:20 GMT

[quote user="Steph SVN"]

We usually use plug in heat mats or heated bean bags x

[/quote]

Our heat mats are pressure applied as well x

Re: heat pads

Ben Gardner RVN — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:11:43 GMT

We have a bear hugger, its brilliant!

Ben

Re: heat pads

Katie Mansfield — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:05:40 GMT

Plug in pads which only give off heat as pressure from the patient is applied, plus bubble wrap.

K x

Re: heat pads

Steph SVN — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:20:39 GMT

We usually use plug in heat mats or heated bean bags x