Hair drying hypothermic patients post anaesthesia

RE: Hair drying hypothermic patients post anaesthesia

Courtney Scales — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 08:51:56 GMT

Hey Daniel - I think if they are wet, yes, dry them quickly prior to recovery which will only take a few minutes! Otherwise use the appropiate warming aids during anaesthesia to minimise hypothermia. The quicker you get them awake, the quicker they will start to warm up themselves.

RE: Hair drying hypothermic patients post anaesthesia

Sarah Keane — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 09:37:42 GMT

HI Daniel

My understanding of drying excessively wet hair post dentals etc would be that you are only taking the excess wet off the hair and not actually heating the skin underneath. Best practice would be ensuring temperature regulation using bair huggers, water bottles or bubble wrap. Checking temperature throughout the surgery is also vital. Drying excess wet can also be done with a towel prior to waking the patient from anaesthetic but definitely removing excess wet is best practice as leaving a patient excessively wet can cause shivering and shivering post op can increase their oxygen requirement by 500% !!! Leading to hypoxia as well as hypothermia. So whether using a hair dryer to dry the hair itself and not necessarily the skin or a towel is recommended you also would not be using the dryer for any prolonged period of time.

RE: Hair drying hypothermic patients post anaesthesia

Robyn — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 13:03:21 GMT

I'll definitely use a hairdryer if they're excessively wet (after a particularly moist dental, etc) just to get them dry. We don't have a bair hugger etc so we definitely have used them (and fan heaters) for really cold patients when kennels haven't warmed up yet. It's an interesting thought that it's counterproductive, but that sounds similar to the "cold water makes hyperthermic patients warmer" stuff that was circulating last year and I didn't see any evidence for that, so I'm on the fence!

RE: Hair drying hypothermic patients post anaesthesia

Nick Shackleton — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 14:47:09 GMT

My own argument against would be that it’s not thermostatically controlled. Whereas, with a warm air unit you can adjust the temperature of the air being delivered. Plus you should always use an warm air blanket with any patient and not just point the hose at the patient

RE: Hair drying hypothermic patients post anaesthesia

apache — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 13:11:53 GMT

Never heard of using a hairdryer, but a Bair hugger or similar is considered 'best practice' so how is this different?