Research Day
"COOL AIN'T COOL- INTRAVENOUS FLUIDS AND THEIR IMPACT ON BODY TEMPERATURE"
Document Type
Abstract
Date
2021
Abstract
Background: Hypothermia in trauma patients has been recognized as having a negative impact on morbidity and mortality, as it is part of the lethal triad of trauma. Prehospital interventions to help prevent hypothermia could therefore be beneficial in impacting patient's long-term outcome. Purpose: We aimed to determine whether or not prehospital intravenous fluid (IVF) temperatures in the trauma patient would have any clinically significant impact on patient's body temperature on arrival to the emergency department.
Methods: Any patient transported to our Level 1 Trauma Center via ground emergency medical services (EMS) with IVF running who was placed in one of our three resuscitation rooms was included in our study. Trained staff recorded the temperature of the patient and the IVF on arrival, as well as the volume infused. Data was collected from June 2019 through April 2020, having had to stop short of a full year's data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: In total, 130 data points were collected over a 10-month period, which did not give our study enough power to show any statistical significance. However, the data trends revealed that prehospital IVF temperature, as well as patient's body temperature, were lower in the colder months of the year.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that in regions with a significant portion of the year having cold ambient temperatures, EMS should consider protocols for prehospital IVF warming, to help mitigate the chance of hypothermia in the critical trauma patient.