Controlled trial of an intravenous fluid warmer.
BACKGROUND
In critically ill patients (e.g., trauma victims) prevention of hypothermia is an important goal. Infusion of warm fluids has been addressed in the hospital setting, but not in the air medical transport setting.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of an intravenous (IV) fluid warming device that is well-suited for the air medical transport environment.


METHODS
The warmer studied was used with IV fluid heated to approximately 38 degrees C (100 degrees F) and evaluated in environmental temperatures of -16 degrees C (3 degrees F), 2 degrees C (36 degrees F), and 22 degrees C (72 degrees F). The warmer group was compared to a control group of similarly treated IV fluids without a warming device. Temperatures were measured at baseline, 15, 30 and 60 minutes.


RESULTS
The 30- and 60-minute fluid temperatures were higher in the warmer than in the control group for all three environmental temperature settings. At 15 minutes, fluid temperatures were higher in the warmer group for the 2 degrees C and -16 degrees C, but not the 22 degrees C, environments. There was no significant drop in temperature in the warmer group in the 22 degrees C and 2 degrees C settings, but a decrease was noted in the -16 degrees C environment. There was a significant drop in the control group at all temperatures tested.


CONCLUSIONS
The IV fluid warmer tested effectively maintains the temperature of warmed IV fluids in temperatures above 2 degrees C. At -16 degrees C there was significant heat loss, but the loss was significantly less when compared to the control group.
Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, NC 27858.
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Stone
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Thomas
D017732:Air Ambulances; D003625:Data Collection; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006361:Heating / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States