Use of heat pads in anaesthesia

RE: Use of heat pads in anaesthesia

Celine — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 08:54:34 GMT

Yes I agree Robyn, my patients are often around the 500g mark and I find I need to remind colleagues that as they are not very heavy they are not in as much contact with the plate and I often use quite a light sheet of fleece or similar as otherwise the heat doesn't penetrate at all. When I first arrived people were using vetbeds (ie designed to be insulating!) on top of the heat pad.... changed that sharpish....

RE: Use of heat pads in anaesthesia

Robyn — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 16:21:00 GMT

I had his problem when I got our 'fancy' electric heat pad in! I really couldn't find any references beyond what's in the textbooks about being careful etc. To be honest we do just use a double-folded towel between the patient and the mat (so there are two layers of thick material) and I shove my hand under them to check the temperature constantly (though a thermometer sounds like a fab idea, thank you Vicky!). To be honest I'm always worried about using too much padding rendering the heat pad useless as we have a super basic theatre setup, and we really only have the mat and space blankets/regular blankets to keep patients warm.

RE: Use of heat pads in anaesthesia

Vicky Ford-Fennah — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 13:39:30 GMT

You can get skin temperature probes to go between the patient and the heat mat which are great for surgical patients. All warming devices have the potential to cause burns and patients should never be left unattended with any type.

Vicky

RE: Use of heat pads in anaesthesia

nikki84 — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 09:28:07 GMT

We use electric heat mats but only during supervised times such as prep, surgery and recovery. They are always covered well with thicker blankets to prevent burns.

Our company set a rule that no patients are to be left in kennels with heat mats, hot water bottles, wheat packs etc due to the risk of burns regardless of how well the item was covered with blankets. Instead each branch has been given a Bair Hugger to use which is more efficient at warming the patients.

A long time ago I saw a patient with a thermal burn caused by an electric heat mat which was horrific. The patient was anaesthetised so couldn't move away and there was a fault with the mat which nobody realised. The mat just continued to get hotter despite the same weight being placed on it. The animal was ok but had some nasty tissue damage which did eventually heal. Because if this I ensure now we place much thicker blankets over heat mats for theatre work and test them on a regular basis.

Sadly I don't have any articles but go with your instinct on this. Patient safety should come first.