Does Incentive Spirometer decrease a temp?

Nurses General Nursing

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Ive been taught that it does, but a doc told a patient that was hogwash. Ive been told by other docs to have patients do it for a temp. Ive seen it work (I think), not sure if it was the IS that did it. I know it is used to decrease risk for pneumonia, but temp? Does anyone know for sure? Thanks.

Hmm. Since it came up does anyone know the mechanism of action for Actaminophen for bringing down temp? Especially since it is NOT an anti-inflmamatory?

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Hmm. Since it came up does anyone know the mechanism of action for Actaminophen for bringing down temp? Especially since it is NOT an anti-inflmamatory?

*OFF-TOPIC*

Acetaminiphen

The antipyretic activity is exerted by blocking the effects of endogenous pyrogen on the hypothalamic heat-regulating center, possibly by inhibiting PG synthesis. Heat is dissipated by vasodilation, increased peripheral blood flow, and sweating.

http://www.migraines.org/treatment/protylnl.htm

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Your first link had this to say:

"It has been classical teaching that pulmonary atelectasis after abdominal surgery is a common cause of postoperative fever. A study conducted to determine the relation of postoperative fever and atelectasis found, however, no relation between atelectasis and fever postoperatively.[9] The daily incidence of atelectasis increased after surgery, whereas the incidence of fever decreased."

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hi siri,

did you actually read the links you provided or merely scan them for a sentence that might have appeared (at first glance) to support the fallacy that i/s decreased a fever? i ask this because your own links contradict the idea that i/s decreases a fever.

in your first link, they come right out and say that there is no correlation between atelectasis and fever. what they do say is that atelectasis can be prevented/treated with i/s. the 5 w's are misleading if you don't read the article in its entirety.

the second link you provided parroted what the first one said, nothing new.

the third link i wasn't able to use because i don't have membership at that site.

the fourth link merely had this to say "should a fever occur, an incentive spirometer is used." (after reading approximately 10 pages about epilepsy and surgical treatments for it, i was surprised to find such a short sentence to support your claim. for all we know, he could meant "should a fever occur, it is most likely the result of an infection and since pneumonia is a common postsurgical infection, let's have the patient use i/s to clear out his lungs, etc".

my point:

in order for i/s to be effective in lowering a fever, the relationship between breathing deeply and thermoregulation must be established. in addition to that, it has to be provable that an i/s can in fact lower a fever. there are tons of home remedies that have worked for millions of people throughout the world and history, it does not mean that they work, merely that they appear to work and that people believe them for whatever reasons (tradition, superstition,etc). as members of the health care profession, we have to go a few steps farther and ask for conclusive proof that something works. it has to make sense in terms of how the body behaves, what we know about pathophysiology and it has to be repeatable with consistent results. i have yet to see any of the above links mention studies, offer explanations, etc. what i've seen are cryptic references and poor writing. if i/s can in fact lower a temp, i would be thrilled. i'd love to be able to use non pharmacologic methods to treat a patient. but so far there isn't any proof or any reasonable explanation of why an i/s would lower a temperature.

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Thanks, siri! Guess I shouldn't recommend Dr. Pepper for UTI's anymore :uhoh3: , but I'll continue to encourage IS as a reasonable method for reducing fevers in my post-op patients!

LOL, this is classic. You don't even bother to read the links she provided and yet you declare the I/S a reasonable method for reducing fevers. Had you read the links (critically) you would have seen the following sentence:

"It has been classical teaching that pulmonary atelectasis after abdominal surgery is a common cause of postoperative fever. A study conducted to determine the relation of postoperative fever and atelectasis found, however, no relation between atelectasis and fever postoperatively.[9] The daily incidence of atelectasis increased after surgery, whereas the incidence of fever decreased."

:trout:

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Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.

Hmmm.. scrolling through my subscribed threads and ran across this one. Don't have time to read all the replies again, but something just occured to me. Incentive spirometry helps patients to expand their lungs and helps them to cough up junk that is building up in their lungs.

There is also a psychological benefit to using incentive spirometry. It makes the pt feel like they are doing something hands-on to help their recovery in an otherwise helpless situation.

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Although atelectasis frequently occurs after surgery and trauma, and such patients have elevated body temperatures, the mechanism of temperature elevation secondary to atelectasis is unknown. Moreover, a small animal model has not been available to study the pathophysiology of pulmonary atelectasis. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to develop a model of pulmonary atelectasis in rats. Because interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), both potent pyrogens, are produced by macrophages during infection and inflammation, our aim was also to determine whether alveolar macrophages produce IL-1 or TNF in response to atelectasis. Whole-lung atelectasis was produced in rats by ligating the left main stem bronchus while maintaining ventilation of the right lung. After a 1-h period of atelectasis, alveolar macrophages were harvested from the right and left lungs and incubated for 24 h, and the supernatants were assayed for IL-1 and TNF. Both IL-1 and TNF levels of macrophage cultures from the atelectatic lung were significantly increased compared with the control lung. These results suggest that increased IL-1 or TNF production by alveolar macrophages may be responsible for fever caused by atelectasis.
The plot thickens...
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It's always nice to have someone quote you and then respond snidely, and disrespectfully.

Really good communication skills; makes me truly want to engage him/her in conversation.

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