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Learn More About Reusable Blood Warmer

By Margaret Snyder


Typically, when you donate blood, it is stored in a refrigerator to enhance its life, if at that time is not transfused to a patient. The temperature in the refrigerator is lower than the standard blood body temperature. If you inject this ice-cold fluid into your body system, you may cause conditions like arrhythmias, shock, and hyperthermia. Therefore, you need to use the reusable blood warmer to provide the fluid with the appropriate and necessary temperature before you incorporate into the body.

They are classified in three categories following the technology or technique used to provide heat. They include dry heat that uses hot air, water bath devices that use hot water as a heating medium and lastly the countercurrent machines which use electric power to provide heating. The process of raising the temperature is usually done in the cabinets before being transfused into the patient or in line during the transfusion activity.

Once you raise the temperature to the one required which is thirty-seven degree Celsius, you transfuse the fluid into your body since when you don't do it, it will naturally cool down to where the temperature was initially. Additionally, it can provide heat without interfering with the living cells like WBC and RBC.

Mostly, you need to use these devices during the process of transferring blood to a patient that requires not less than fifty percent of blood volume of their body. Also, you can use the devices when the amount you want to administer needs urgency or when you need to do it rapidly. The reason is that when you transfuse a higher amount of the cold fluid into the body, then the cases mentioned are likely to emerge because of the temperature will lower to the range which gets recommended. If the patient has cold agglutinins, then you can use these devices.

When a patient is likely to suffer cold agglutinins, these devices become very beneficial is eliminating this negative effect. On the other hand, elderly, neonates and pediatric patients should be accorded special considerations before this can be done to them. Also, people suffering cardiac and chronic disorders should also be treated in the same manner.

It is an advantageous device as the patients are able to attain the required body temperatures and any side effect of low or cold temperatures is eradicated. Another benefit of this device is that it does not get disposed of together with the bags and storage. It is used again and again. In the case of countercurrent, it only requires fixing it to the bag or the body and switching it on and starts operating.

However, it has various disadvantages such as temperature maintain technology or failure. You can only prevent the heat loss by current warming, but you cannot be able to make the patient warm. Therefore, you need to use other methods such as blankets, warming, as well as pads as another alternative or remedies to conditions such as hypothermia.

They are not effective in providing warmth as other ways like using hot water baths, blankets, and pads do better than them in reducing hypothermia. However, their use cannot be compared with cold transfusions.




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