[IsseyM]

Originally Posted by nightmare

Not knowing what a 'bair hugger' was I looked up the website.There there are big warnings about using the hose unattached to the blanket!!

http://www.stophosing.com/hosing.html

Thats scary! I've never seen anyone in my department use the hose unattached during a case, we all use the upper or lower body blanket attached to the hose. I've only used the hose to warm up the bed before the patient comes into the room and still the bed doesn't get very warm.

[SandraHeartTeamRN]

Originally Posted by nightmare

Not knowing what a 'bair hugger' was I looked up the website.There there are big warnings about using the hose unattached to the blanket!!

http://www.stophosing.com/hosing.html

Yes, I understand that, I am NOT talking about using just the hose on a patient JUST on the OR table.

Thanks everyone for their replies.

[jwk]

Originally Posted by nightmare

Not knowing what a 'bair hugger' was I looked up the website.There there are big warnings about using the hose unattached to the blanket!!

http://www.stophosing.com/hosing.html

You're right - you don't know what it is - the company is referring to the practice called "hosing", which is tucking the hose in by the patient instead of using it with the blanket as intended. All that does is blow hot air on one spot for the duration of the case - it can cause 2nd degree burns.

Sticking the hose under the sheets will NOT cause a fire (the air coming out is about 44degC (about 111F), so that concern is unfounded. The lint question is valid - cotton sheets have lint - but the Bair hugger blankets are synthetic (paper and plastic) so they should not. I've never seen a study about it, but it's certainly a legitimate concern, although in reality it may be unfounded as well.

[sandiegojames]

Originally Posted by nightmare

Not knowing what a 'bair hugger' was I looked up the website.There there are big warnings about using the hose unattached to the blanket!!

http://www.stophosing.com/hosing.html

Yes, this refers to not using the hose directly on patients, basically all OR nurses know not to do this.

But it's an entirely different issue to simply warm the bed prior to a patient lying on it.