Paddy Morgan – Assessment, Treatment and Management of Accidental Hypothermia in the Prehospital Environment

Dr Paddy Morgan talks to us about accidental hypothermia, what is it? How can we recognise it and how can we treat it in the prehospital environment.

Top 3 Points from this podcast:

• Keep yourself safe, keep your team safe and that means you can effect rescue for your casualty
• Shivering is a key triage tool in hypothermia
• Plan ahead and think about the 2’s, where do I want to be in 2 mins, 20 mins and 2 hours, call for back up early, call ahead to the ECMO centre early to get the teams ready to receive your patient.

Resources related to this podcast:

ICAR Guidelines

Original hypothermia

Accidental Hypothermia – an update

Accidental hypothermia Part 1- an update

Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Out-of-Hospital Evaluation and Treatment of Accidental Hypothermia: 2019 update

Comparison of three different prehospital wrapping methods for preventing hypothermia – a crossover study in humans

Effect of Hypoglycaemia on Thermoregulatory Responses

Severe Hypoglycaemia Reduces the Shivering Threshold

Termination of resuscitation

Gale paper on hypothermia and hypoglycaemia

 

 

About Paddy

Paddy is a Consultant Anaesthetist and Trauma Team Leader based in Bristol (UK), and Consultant with Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) Cymru, and Great Western Air Ambulance.
Prior to his medical studies, Paddy worked summer seasons as a surf lifeguard and went onto to instruct and mentor at a national level, retaining an active role in flood/swift water rescue. He is the honorary medical advisor to Surf Lifesaving GB, member of the UK governments Search and Rescue (UKSAR) Advisory Medical Group, previously sat on the Royal National Lifeboat Institute’s Medical & Survival Committee, is a member of the International Life Saving Federation’s (ILS) medical advisory committee, an Invited Honorary Member of the International Drowning Research Alliance (IDRA), and is Medical Director for HM Coastguard.
As a postgraduate student and independent medical officer for the Extreme Environment Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth, his areas of research interest include drowning, the cardio-respiratory responses to immersion and submersion in cold-water, hypothermia and the response of the human body in extreme environments. He has lectured internationally and has several publications related to these subjects.