HYPOTHERMIA AND ITS EMPLOYMENT IN MEDICAL PRACTICE

• Autor(a) principal: Franceschini, Natália
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Furlan, Maria Montserrat Diaz Pedrosa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde e Pesquisa (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.unicesumar.edu.br/index.php/saudpesq/article/view/1724
• topic: Thermo-regulation; Coldness; Hypothermia; Vital signs.; Termorregulação; Frio; Hipotermia; Sinais Vitais; .

In nursing, temperature is one of the first vital signs in the patients’ evaluation, monitoring and clinical evolution. Temperature maintenance is basic for the functioning of the organism even when room and environmental temperature varies. When the patient is exposed to temperature variations, several regulatory mechanisms are triggered by the hypothalamus’s regulatory centers. In the case of coldness, physiological and compensatory phenomena are set forth, including peripheral vasoconstriction, increase in cell metabolism and shivering. However, the limitations of such processes in extreme situations may give rise to hypothermia which may lead to severe dysfunction and death if not well cared for. On the other hand, hypothermia may be employed in medical practice for the treatment of severe diseases and also during surgical procedures. Current analysis deals with human thermo-regulation, physiological and pathological changes in response to coldness and its applications and implications in medical practice.