ICAR MED REC 0040 2021
Clinical staging of accidental hypothermia: The Revised Swiss System

Background

Clinical staging of accidental hypothermia is used to guide out-of-hospital treatment and transport decisions. Most clinical systems utilize core temperature, by measurement or estimation, to stage hypothermia, despite the challenge of obtaining accurate field measurements. Recent studies have demonstrated that field estimation of core temperature is imprecise.
We propose a revision of the original Swiss Staging system. The revised system uses the risk of cardiac arrest, instead of core temperature, to determine the staging level. Our revised system simplifies assessment by using the level of responsiveness, based on the AVPU scale, and by removing shivering as a stage-defining sign.

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MED REC 0040 2021 Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss System MED REC 0040 2021 Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia.PDF (875.52KB)

MED REC 0040 2021 Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss System

MED REC 0040 2021 Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia.PDF (875.52KB)

ICAR MED REC 40 2021 B Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss System (Rescuer Summary) * ICAR MED REC 40 2021 B Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss Sys.pdf (606.74KB)

ICAR MED REC 40 2021 B Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss System (Rescuer Summary) *

ICAR MED REC 40 2021 B Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss Sys.pdf (606.74KB)

 *Please note that this download is the General ICAR Recommendation designed primarily for the Rescuer community.

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