COREMED-Cooperative Centre for Regenerative Medicine, JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Graz, Austria.
Division of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
J Burn Care Res. 2023 May 2;44(3):698-703. doi: 10.1093/jbcr/irab126.
Increased ambient temperatures during the care of severely burned patients are essential for mitigating hypothermia and minimizing the impact of consecutive hypermetabolism. For involved medical staff, those conditions may lead to impaired concentration, possibly negatively affecting optimal patient care. Yet, alleviation strategies are lacking. As a novel coping strategy, cooling wear may be an effective means. This explorative study aimed to investigate the effect of high ambient temperatures on the concentration capacity and cooling wear to alleviate thermal stress. The effects of high ambient temperatures and the additional use of cooling wear on the concentration capacity of medical staff were investigated in six subjects during two simulated burn surgeries. Each individual served as his/her own control undergoing one simulation with and one without cooling wear. Concentration capacity was measured before and after each simulation with a standardized test. The results suggested that high ambient temperatures, as used in burn medicine, negatively affect human concentration capacity. The initial assessment of concentration capacity yielded homogenous values. After heat exposure, subjects wearing cooling wear showed a higher concentration capacity and a lower error rate compared to subjects without cooling wear. Summing up, temperature-related decrements in vigilance and performance among medical personnel may impair the patients' outcome. As an opportunity to withstand thermal stress and improve medical care and safety, cooling wear showed promising results and may be used as a heat alleviator. Burn medicine may particularly benefit from further development and rigorous investigation of cooling strategies.
在严重烧伤患者的护理过程中，增加环境温度对于缓解低体温和最大限度地减少随后的代谢亢进至关重要。对于参与治疗的医护人员来说，这些条件可能会导致注意力不集中，从而可能对最佳患者护理产生负面影响。然而，缓解策略却缺乏。作为一种新的应对策略，冷却服可能是一种有效的手段。本探索性研究旨在调查环境高温对医护人员注意力集中能力的影响，以及冷却服在缓解热应激方面的作用。在两次模拟烧伤手术中，对六名医护人员在两种情况下的环境高温和使用冷却服对注意力集中能力的影响进行了研究。每位参与者都作为自己的对照，分别进行了一次有和一次没有冷却服的模拟实验。在每次模拟前后，都使用标准化测试来测量注意力集中能力。结果表明，烧伤医学中使用的高温环境会对人的注意力集中能力产生负面影响。在初始评估中，注意力集中能力表现出同质值。在热暴露后，穿冷却服的受试者的注意力集中能力更高，错误率更低，而没有穿冷却服的受试者则表现出注意力集中能力下降。综上所述，与温度相关的医护人员警觉性和表现下降可能会影响患者的预后。作为一种应对热应激、改善医疗护理和安全性的机会，冷却服显示出了有前景的结果，并且可以作为一种散热缓解剂使用。烧伤医学可能特别受益于冷却策略的进一步发展和严格研究。
