No blankets for febrile patients.....?

[TheSingularity]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

How did this "teaching" infiltrate nursing practice?

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using SDN mobile

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Fever means hot, so obviously blanket is bad? I don't know.

 

[AlmostAnMD]

I told a nurse to put a blanket on a febrile kid in residency when the kid asked for one

The nurse wrote me up and I had to submit a written explanation why I did it

My explanation was, "the kid asked for one"

Never heard anything

Quality nursing

 

[Clockdoc89]

I told a nurse to put a blanket on a febrile kid in residency when the kid asked for one

The nurse wrote me up and I had to submit a written explanation why I did it

My explanation was, "the kid asked for one"

Never heard anything

Quality nursing

The nurse wrote you up? WTF? Is this a common thing in EM? How much ****ing power do they actually have

 

[AlmostAnMD]

In my residency, a lot

I am no longer near there loooooool

 

[RustedFox]

I've never heard this.
I used to think that I worked with some of the dumbest RNs in existence.
Apparently not.

 

[Renaissance Man]

I have heard this so many times from so many nurses. Have countless times seen nurses taking away warm blankets from poor rigoring febrile patients.

 

[Zebra Hunter]

I've never heard this.
I used to think that I worked with some of the dumbest RNs in existence.
Apparently not.

Not giving blankets to febrile pts, putting pts in trendelenberg because they are hypotensive, I once walked into a room to find a nurse dunking a child in a sink full of ice water because his temp was 104 (this was in the middle of winter), nurses that have refused to start antibiotics on a patient because they are afraid the pt will go hypotensive. There is a lot of really dumb nurse dogma out there.

 

[AlmostAnMD]

Well I thought I was going to win the nurse vs fever competition

gladly hand it over to you

 

[Birdstrike]

Don't question old wives tales unless you want to dodge wive's knives.

 

[deleted109597]

Nurses are never wrong. It's their license after all.

 

[NYEMMED]

Nurses are never wrong. It's their license after all.

Exactly. Nobody wants to lose their license over a blanket.....

 

[GeneralVeers]

I stopped arguing with nurses over stuff like this. Let them freeze!

 

[RuralEDDoc]

I stopped arguing with nurses over stuff like this. Let them freeze!

Agreed, choose your battles.

 

[dchristismi]

I vaguely remember some random article years ago looking at babies and rectal temperature differences in a baby swaddled in a bunch of hats and blankets vs not.... and there was no discernable difference. So my practice is to reference this vague study authoritatively and announce that my febrile patients can always have blankets because SCIENCE.

I probably should look that one up one of these days, but since there's absolutely nothing behind this random nursing dictate, I just announce more authoritatively that MY patients can ALWAYS have blankets.
I figure it's a humanitarian thing. Besides, I'd want the biggest comforter I owned if I was febrile.

 

[WilcoWorld]

I obviate the issue by getting the patient a blanket myself.

 

[NurWollen]

Lol, don't, it's not worth your license!!

I obviate the issue by getting the patient a blanket myself.

Sent from my SM-G930V using SDN mobile

 

[thegenius]

Lol, don't, it's not worth your license!!

Sent from my SM-G930V using SDN mobile

You will NEVER LOSE YOUR LICENSE getting anybody a blanket.
Even if you are being actively cooled from 108F, I would put a sheet over you to protect your body to passers by.

 

[NurWollen]

Nice sarcasm detector you got there.

You will NEVER LOSE YOUR LICENSE getting anybody a blanket.
Even if you are being actively cooled from 108F, I would put a sheet over you to protect your body to passers by.

Sent from my SM-G930V using SDN mobile

 

[thegenius]

I've honed it over many years.

 

[deleted836128]

Okay, so I've heard them saying this and just shrugged it off because I've never heard of it before and to me it doesn't really matter. But then the other day I overheard my favorite attending say to a patient, "Sure, I can get you a warm blanket if your fever has come down!" I was like...WTF...

 

[Siggy]

The pants on head stupid aspect of this is that, assuming the fever isn't outrageously high AND it's not a neuro patient, the fever is protective. I mean, sure, not as effective as Zosyn, but still.

 

[hundreddaysoff]

By the same logic, if they have a fever shouldn't the nurse not just be not giving them a blanket, but and also even taking their clothes off?

(The patient's clothes I mean.)

 

[Birdstrike]

The only blankets that are safe to give out are ones that say, "Be a team player," and, "We appreciate you." All others cause sepsis.

 

[PTPoeny]

By the same logic, if they have a fever shouldn't the nurse not just be not giving them a blanket, but and also even taking their clothes off?

(The patient's clothes I mean.)

The peds nurses I've worked with do take every baby with a fever down to just a diaper...

 

[Birdstrike]

The peds nurses I've worked with do take every baby with a fever down to just a diaper...

When I have a fever, I feel cold and the last thing I want is to be laying on crinkly exam table-paper half naked in a diaper. Just sayin'.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

When I have a fever, I feel cold and the last thing I want is to be laying on crinkly exam table-paper half naked in a diaper. Just sayin'.

Is this a regular enough thing that you know what that feels like?

 

[Birdstrike]

Is this a regular enough thing that you know what that feels like?

I quit in the ‘70’s.