ing that takes place before fluid
reaches the patient. (Typical
rates for an anesthesiologist dur-
ing induction are about 25 mLs
per minute). But if you're dealing
with a patient who's in shock,
who's hemorrhaging or who
need fluids rapidly, flow rate
might be much faster – more like
100 to 300 mLs per minute. With
slow and moderate flow rates,
which many anesthesiologists
use, there can be a significant
cool-down. With a faster flow
rate, there's very little chance of
having that cool-down. Those
faster rates aren't commonly
needed in outpatient surgery, but they can be, and you'd need to use
different fluid warmers in those scenarios.
The best ways to mitigate heat loss after it exits the fluid warmer
are to either go with a fluid warmer that warms fluid all the way until
it reaches the patient's IV, or else to have the fluid warmer in line very
close to the patient's IV. Some manufacturers have mechanisms that
ensure there is no cool-down before fluid reaches the patient.
Is there a chance the fluid you're getting ready to deliver to the
patient will ever be too warm? It doesn't happen very often, and all
the warmers marketed today have safety mechanisms, so they'll alarm
if they're over temperature and turn themselves off. If you're buying
something that's produced in the U.S., you can be confident it will
have that feature.
1 0 4
O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | A P R I L 2 0 1 5
z JUST RIGHT Patients given warmed fluids typically
have higher core temperatures at the end of surgery.
