Bair Huggers

[meol]

I am a nursing student and I need to do and Evidence Based Project for the hospital I am at before I graduate. I am taking on the task of implementing a new protocol at the hospital i am at for the use of bair huggers for those who are going to have a c-section. Has anybody used bair huggers before for c-section patients? Does your hospital have protocols for this? There is not much information out there with the use of the bair hugger for c-section so any information will help. Even if anyone has any journal articles they know of please share.

Thanks you

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

We have never used Bair Huggers on c-section patients at any of the places I have worked at. The temps in an OR used to deliver babies is much higher than a traditional OR room temp. Likewise, pediatric OR's are kept at a higher temp because of the vulnerability of the patient for thermo regulatory problems.

[cparks]

I have been working in surgery for quite a while and have never ever ever seen anybody use a bair hugger on a c-section patient.. thats not to say some hospitals do that.. I just have never seen it done

Bair Huggers (in a surgical setting) are traditionally used for long procedures. We usually only use ours if we are doing a procedure that will last longer than 45 minutes.. C-sections usually dont go over 20 or 30 minutes from cut to close. Also, if its an emergency, nobody is going to be taking the time to set up the bair hugger. Another reason we dont use the bair hugger on OB patients is because (although they may feel chilly) their temps automatically tend to be a tad higher naturally then the traditional patient because of all that baking they are doing.

We might use it on somebody that is very sick or elderly or very young.

I know bair hugger has a new product.. it is a patient gown that will hook up to the bair hugger machine and warm the patient.. eliminating the need for warm blankets. here is the website for the manufactuer of the bair hugger.. it is a pretty good resorce for that equipment.

http://www.arizant.com/arizanthealthcare/

If I were going to do this project, and you want to be in the area of OB, you could maybe do a protocol for Recovery of C-section patient using a bair hugger, or maybe using the bair hugger on a c-sectioned newborn...

hope that helps.

Chastity