Is your hospital in the Arctic Zone?

[Joe V]

As nurses, we are on a constant go. We usually like it a little cool where we work. But what about the patients? There they are with flimsy hospital gowns and a sheet....maybe even a thin blanket if they are lucky. What do you do to help take the chill off for your patients?

[RN403, BSN, RN]

Lots of blankets. Giving a patient a blanket out of the warmer is like you have just given them a million bucks!

[ilikesharpthings]

I recently brought a 70-something post-op patient a couple of warm blankets and she said, "oh honey, at my age that is better than sex!". ☺️Cracked me up!!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I wish I worked somewhere I could be concerned about keeping my people warm! I am in LTC and the elderly frequently feel cold, so the temp in that building hovers around 74 year round. So when I go home after work I am used to being very warm so hubby and I are in thermostat wars all winter! He likes it around 66-67 and I just can't tolerate less than 68-69. We can compromise on 68 and I wear a sweater, any cooler than that and I am wrapped up in blankets and sweaters until hubby gives up and turns the thermostat back up.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I work in an old, antiquated building where patients actually complain of the opposite problem: "This room is too hot! Can you turn the temperature down or give me an oscillating fan?"

[RNperdiem, RN]

Blankets, sometimes out of the warmer helps the chilly patients. For me, long underwear, wool socks, and undershirts.

I grew up in a world where air conditioning was only found in places like the movies, supermarkets and a few places here and there. In the tropical third world, constant a/c is something most of us couldn't afford, so we adapted fine.

Around here in the southern USA, I can't get used to the refrigeration that hits me in the summer. Maybe it is because people aren't used to adapting to warm temperatures anymore, or so many people are obese?

[ceccia]

RNperdiem said:

I grew up in a world where air conditioning was only found in places like the movies, supermarkets and a few places here and there. In the tropical third world, constant a/c is something most of us couldn't afford, so we adapted fine.

Around here in the southern USA, I can't get used to the refrigeration that hits me in the Summer. Maybe it is because people aren't used to adapting to warm temperatures anymore, or so many people are obese?

Air conditioning in the Summer drive me nuts! I hate it. IMHO going back and forth between extreme temperatures all the time messes with your body's ability to regulate temperature on its own.

Similar hatred for constant extreme heat in the Winter - it's dehydrating, and expensive, and a waste of natural resources, and it makes it feel like the outside is even colder in comparison.

[MissyWrite]

A cold hospital of SNF can be a serious problem for the elderly, because they can develop hypothermia at a temperature of 65 degrees.

[el10john]

Get ths analogy correct: there are NO penguins in the Arctic.

[FlyingScot, RN]

I adjust the thermostat for the comfort of the patients not the staff and believe me I hear about it. Really is 72 degrees that bloody awful?

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

It was 62 degrees on the floor overnight a few nights back. The night shift was freezing!

[Graduatenurse14]

Clearly, I watch too many of those reality shows where it films people living there so my very first thought was about hospitals in the Arctic Zone. Duh!! I forgot they have to fly to Fairbanks, Anchorage or Juneau to go to a hospital!!