Many patients awaken from surgery feeling cold. In some cases, a postoperative chill is caused the temperature of the recovery unit, which is kept cool to prevent the spread of germs. Shivers in the recovery room could also result from surgery itself, particularly the use of cold intravenous fluids or irrigation fluids. Doctors have long known that the fluid patients receive during surgery affects their body temperature. Only recently has the practice of warming surgical fluids become more common.
What could happen if you receive cold fluids during surgery?
The specific effects of receiving cold fluids during surgery depends of the unique characteristics of patients, such as the condition of their immune system, their body temperature at the time of surgery, and the type of surgery they receive. There are also general effects of receiving cold fluids during surgery that affect anyone, particularly the effects below:
- Hypothermia
- Increased risk for opportunistic infections
- Increased risk for cardiac arrest
Surgery patients who contract opportunistic infections in the wake of surgery, or suffer cardiac arrest during surgery, often experience these maladies as the result of hypothermia – a condition that patients who receive anesthetic are particularly at risk for. When administered intravenously, anesthetic has a cooling effect on the body, potentially causing its core temperature to drop below 95°F, the lowest temperature at which the body functions normally – and cold IV fluids and irrigation fluids can add to the effect.
Cardiac arrest can occur within seconds of IV fluids being administered cold, while opportunistic infections often occur post-surgery as the patient heals. The lower the body’s temperature, the less potent its natural defenses are. In hospitals, where infections are especially opportunistic, post surgery hypothermia can lead to serious complications that prolong hospital stays indefinitely.
If it seems as if surgical hypothermia could be prevented in part by IV and irrigation fluid warming, that is because it could. Over the past decade, many hospitals have integrated IV warmers as a component of surgical care. However, the type of fluid warmers that should be used remains a mater of debate.
Deciding the Ideal Fluid Warmer
When deciding the ideal fluid warmer, it helps to begin with the general features of fluid warmers, and then move to the specific ones.
The most general feature of fluid warmers is their power source: do they run on batteries or electricity? Because warmers that run on batteries offer more versatility, they are usually the better choice. A second general feature of fluid warmers concerns disposability: can they be discarded after one use or are they sterilized and reused? To protect against bacteria that could survive improper sterilization procedures, disposable warmers are the safest choice.
The specific features of a warmer are where its true technology lies. When evaluating warmers based on performance, the following categories should be used as performance indicators:
- Temperature control
- Warm up time
- Tubing requirements
- Weight
- Flow rate
Ideally, a portable warmer should feature direct temperature measurement, have a warm up time of less than 50 seconds, use standard issue tubing, have a setup time of less than 35 seconds, weigh less than two pounds with the battery attached, and have a flow rate of 2-150 ml/min.
Conclusion
If you have surgery, IV and irrigation fluid warming could potentially save your life. If you run a health clinic or a hospital, these practices could improve the quality of your patient care. For more information on fluid warming for surgical patients, contact a supplier of portable IV warmers.