A simple improvised prehospital method to warm intravenous fluid

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Prehospital Care
• Thermoregulation

Background:

• Iatrogenic hypothermia is a risk for prehospital patients.
• Warmed intravenous (IV) fluids are recommended to prevent hypothermia.
• Effective prehospital fluid warming methods are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test an improvised method for warming IV fluid bags.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of using a vehicle's defroster vent for fluid warming.
• To determine if this method significantly increases IV fluid temperature in a simulated prehospital environment.

Main Methods:

• A 1-L IV fluid bag was placed above a vehicle's defroster vent.
• Fluid temperature was measured using a thermocouple probe for 30 minutes.
• A control fluid bag was placed on the vehicle console for comparison.
• 10 independent experiments were conducted.

Main Results:

• The defroster vent method increased fluid temperature from 19.4°C to 32.6°C in 30 minutes.
• The control fluid bag temperature changed minimally (20.1°C to 22.3°C).
• The difference in temperature change was statistically significant.

Conclusions:

• Convective warming using a dashboard defroster vent effectively raises IV fluid temperature.
• This improvised method is a readily available option for emergency medical services.
• It can help prevent hypothermia in prehospital patients.