Warm Fluids a Must for Patients in Cold Conditions

Some things are best served cold. Saline isn’t one of them.

California Shock Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR) Chief Flight Nurse Bryan Pond sees a lot of cold conditions operating in South Lake Tahoe. And cold patients. Which is why he’s a fan of the Thermal Angel fluid warming device available from Bound Tree Medical.

“It becomes a matter of needing to get these patients warmed up, especially when we’re on the ski slopes, people have had an accident and they’ve been on the snow for a little bit,” Pond says. “They can be rather cold by the time we pick them up. So we need a way to [actively] warm them up as opposed to simply relying on passive re-warming. And this is a really good product for doing that.”

The Thermal Angel is an in-line, battery-powered disposable, lightweight and completely portable blood and IV fluid warming device, capable of intravenous application and irrigation warming. Notably, the Thermal Angel can be used to help prevent fluid-induced hypothermia.

“We’re able to give warm blood [and IV fluid] products to patients during transfer which is huge, as opposed to [just saying], ‘Here’s a bunch of cold blood, I hope it doesn’t screw you up too bad,’ ” Pond explains.

Pond says the Thermal Angel is extremely effective, allowing him to administer fluids to hypothermic patients who may be in rigor or shaking because they’re so cold. He can give them warm fluid and they begin to relax and feel much better almost immediately.

Since the Thermal Angel is elegantly simple, there are no knobs, settings or switches. An experienced user can set up the Thermal Angel in a matter of seconds. And because the Thermal Angel is a portable, battery-powered single patient device, there are no additional costs due to patient movements throughout the continuum of care.

Visit www.boundtree.com.