Effect evaluation of modified medical cooling blanket in hypothermia therapy of critically ill patients

Objective  To observe the efficacy of bladder temperature measurement instead of rectal temperature measurement in controlling the start and stop of medical cooling blankets.

Methods  An adaptive thermometric catheter was installed in the medical cooling blanket, the bladder temperature signal monitored by the thermometric catheter was transmitted to the cooling blanket, in order to control the start and stopfunctions by replacing the probe for direct measurement of anal temperature. The data of the modified cooling blanket was calibrated with special measuring thermometer. A total of 32 critically ill patients with high fever were selected as the research objects, and they were conducted with hypothermia therapy by using the modified cooling blanket; bladder temperature and rectal temperature were observed and recorded every 4 hours, and the consistency of bladder temperature and rectal temperature in monitoring hypothermia of critically ill patients was analyzed; the accuracy of performing safe cooling by nurses before and after application of the modified cooling blanket was further analyzed.

Results  There was no significant difference in the measured temperature between the modified cooling blanket and the special thermometer (P>0.05); there was a high positive correlation between bladder temperature measured by modified cooling blanket and rectal temperature directly measured by mercury thermometer (r=0.99, P < 0.05), and within the 95% consistency limit, the absolute value of the difference between the two methods was 0.16 ℃, with an average difference of 0.01 ℃, indicating a high consistency; the incidence of start-stop signal error of temperature control for cooling blanket due to the incorrect selection of measurement site by nurses was 0.

Conclusion  The modified cooling blanket can replace rectal temperature through bladder temperature measurement, accurately perform hypothermia treatment for critically ill patients, ensure patient's comfort, and improve the accuracy and safety of performing cooling blanket operations by nurses.