Randomized Prospective Clinical Trial Comparing Room Temperature and Warmed Intravenous Fluid Boluses on Pediatric Patients' Comfort.
A common complaint among pediatric patients receiving an intravenous (IV) fluid bolus is that their arm feels cold and uncomfortable. The purpose of this study is to test if administering warmed IV fluids, as compared to room temperature IV fluids, results in increased comfort among pediatric patients seeking care in an emergency department. A blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted and 126 pediatric patients were enrolled. Each patient's overall comfort, arm comfort, and arm temperature were measured prior to IV fluid administration, 15 minutes after the beginning of the infusion, and at the end of the 60-minute infusion. After the first 15 minutes of IV fluid administration, the patients who received warmed IV fluids reported higher comfort than the patients who received room temperature IV fluids, t(118)=2.04, p=0.04. Additionally, patients who received the room temperature IV fluids reported that their arms felt cooler than patients who received the warmed fluids, t(118)=3.25, p=0.0015. Warming IV fluids has the potential to improve the experience of IV bolus administration for pediatric patients.
North Carolina's Children's Hospital at UNC Health Care, Chapel Hill, NC.
Katelyn
K
Hausfeld
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH. Electronic address: Rachel.Baker@cchmc.org.
Rachel B
RB
Baker
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Patricia
P
Boettcher-Prior
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
David
D
Hancock
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Caitlin
C
Helms
Lima Memorial Health Systems, Lima, OH.
Tamara
T
Jablonski
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Li
L
Lin
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Katherine
K
Menne
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Joe
J
Mittermeier
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Melissa
M
Morris
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015588:Observer Variation; D000070659:Patient Comfort; D012016:Reference Values; D012768:Shivering; D013696:Temperature; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Comfort; IV fluids; Pediatric; Warmed fluids