Aluminum foil for burns

[medicdan]

What's an H+H? I haven't looked at the OEMS check list lately, but I seem to remember both items being removed from the mandatory equipment list back when it was revised in the late 1990s. A lot of stuff was removed back then, like Ipecac, extrication tools, the two 50 foot lengths of rope, ...

Who are the boys in green? Besides of course Arcadian Ambulance, which I don't think operates in MA.

My apologies. I thought you were a medic who goes by "Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire" elsewhere on the interwebs.

 

[Too Old To Work]

My apologies. I thought you were a medic who goes by "Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire" elsewhere on the interwebs.

Oh. Still doesn't answer my question though.

 

[crazycajun]

I have never heard of using it for burns but I have seen it used once about 20 years ago. Mid 20's male with laceration due to stabbing affecting the LLQ and RLQ causing evisceration. On-line medical direction advised us to apply wet sterile gauze and cover with aluminum foil. Upon arrival I asked the physician why the foil and he explained that the foil was meant to retain heat in the organs. Made sense. We still carry it but I haven't used it nor do I know anyone else who has. (except to wrap lunch and heat it on the exhaust manifold)

 

[silver]

Oh. Still doesn't answer my question though.

H+H is Boston Health and Hospitals. In 1996 H&H split into two entities: Boston Medical Center (BMC) and the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC). Boston H&H Ambulances became Boston EMS, now under BPHC.

 

[mycrofft]

ccajun, foil conducts heat away if in contact.

It would however act as a barrier between the wet dressing and bugs in the Great Outdoors.
Read the beginnings of the post, the foils was supposed to impart magickal healing powers about sixty years ago.

 

[crazycajun]

It would however act as a barrier between the wet dressing and bugs in the Great Outdoors.
Read the beginnings of the post, the foils was supposed to impart magickal healing powers about sixty years ago.

Aluminum foil reflects heat back to the source. It is why cooked foods stay warmer longer when wrapped in foil after cooking. Same principal in the human body. Internal organs that retained body temp will remain warmer longer covered in foil as the organ is the heat source.

 

[Too Old To Work]

H+H is Boston Health and Hospitals. In 1996 H&H split into two entities: Boston Medical Center (BMC) and the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC). Boston H&H Ambulances became Boston EMS, now under BPHC.

Thanks.

 

[Handsome Rob]

I would tend to agree that foil is a bad idea; however, with the argument of trapping heat: also keep in mind that burn patients often die of hypothermia, what with the whole skin being gone thing. I agree that the article is bogus, but it would be an interesting conflict between using an extremely painful treatment for an extremely life-threatening trauma.

Lastly, some of the best tools for intervention are simple in nature. Every truck should carry a roll of duct tape, the Handy Man's Secret Weapon.

 

[boingo]

Is that a statement about H+H doing whatever they wish, or OEMS guidelines? I work for the boys in green, and manage a smaller service, and we both still carry them. This past January when our inspector came around, I asked him about it, and he said it was still in the guidelines as food-grade clear wrap and aluminium foil, but that he would accept the space blankets and asherman or saline/abd pad for evisceration.

Really? Last I checked BEMS is subjected to annual inspection like every other service in the State, as for OEMS "guidelines", they are just that, guidelines.

 

[mycrofft]

Food stays hot longer?

Fire scioence 101: heat is moved through conduction, convection/evaporation, and radiation.
1. Aluminum is the very best room temperature common conductor of heat (copper is very close). Contact with a hot substance starts very efficient conduction. You can nullify this by putting it in a blanket (or a takeout box/bag/carton with dead air space in it) .
2. Radiation: that's the second best way aluminum gets rid of the heat it conducts. Again, surround it with a take out pkg.
3. Convection/evaporation: here's the winner. Foil can seal in steam or hot gases. Convection from cooked food or people is an extremely effective means of spilling heat (or vapor/steam, otherwise you body cannot cool itself effectively in high heat). That is where foil holds in heat.

Cling wrap in a microwave is even more effective (poorly conductive, seals convection, tends to block some infrared) but is a trouble to use and in high heats like microwave or regular ovens it breaks down at temperatures lower than those generated by the food being heated.
So: foil and a blanket, or fumble with Saran Wrap. Or just use a saline soaked dressing and some sort of cover to prevent contamination through the liquid.

Anyway, if you are urban or suburban, your response time probably obviates the benefits.

 

[rogersam5]

It would however act as a barrier between the wet dressing and bugs in the Great Outdoors.
Read the beginnings of the post, the foils was supposed to impart magickal healing powers about sixty years ago.

It still does, it prevents the CIA from reading peoples minds and forcnig them to do things:excl:

 

[Meursault]

Really? Last I checked BEMS is subjected to annual inspection like every other service in the State, as for OEMS "guidelines", they are just that, guidelines.

OEMS inspectors don't seem to treat them as guidelines, and I've always been under the impression that Boston EMS was given more latitude than any other service.

 

[boingo]

To be honest, I think the OEMS inspectors are harder on BEMS, but I could be mistaken. I can tell you they have gigged them on some really stupid things, aluminum foil for example. The protocols are guidelines, I can't recall ever having issues with the State regarding patient care, if the medical director and the associate directors have issue with the medicine it is usually handled in house, as it should.

 

[Too Old To Work]

Really? Last I checked BEMS is subjected to annual inspection like every other service in the State, as for OEMS "guidelines", they are just that, guidelines.

OEMS "guidelines" are regulations, not guidelines. They are codified in the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, not the Code of Massachusetts Guidelines or Suggestions. They have the force of law. Stupid law perhaps, but law none the less.

 

[Too Old To Work]

It still does, it prevents the CIA from reading peoples minds and forcnig them to do things:excl:

Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie

 

[Too Old To Work]

How OEMS inspectors treat ambulance services is often based on two factors.

1) How the service treats the inspectors.

2) The realization that inspectors exist to find deficiencies. If there are no deficiencies, then we don't have to have inspectors. If they find only little stuff that can be "corrected during inspection", everyone is happy. OTOH, as happened to AMR a few years back, they find ambulances with floors rotted out, then the inspectors might be happy, but AMR having to remove 30 or so ambulances from the road and replace them with new or "interfleet" ambulances makes them not so happy.

 

[enjoynz]

I can't see that aluminum foil would help with burns, because it is used to retain heat normally.

All the ambulances in New Zealand carry and use cling wrap for burns patients, as their protocol.
Once the burn is cooled down using saline or water as the need may be.
Cling wrap keeps air and germs from entering the burn site and you can see the burn through the wrap.
No need to remove it, letting in air and causing the patient undue pain.

 

[Jon]

Saw this thread, and figured I'd share something.

From what I've been told, the DC Metro area is moving to Mylar Blankets for burns. See the attached memo for more info.

 

[mycrofft]

Mylar blankets are sterile?

Actually, the old regimen of slathering with clean grease, ONCE THE BURNING IS OVER, has all the benefits of mylar and can be potentially sterile if treated properly (not like the old days).

Again, the originating article is from 1948 and had no basis in research.

 

[adamjh3]

I can't see that aluminum foil would help with burns, because it is used to retain heat normally.

Just a Basic here, but wouldn't that be beneficial in patients with extensive 3rd degree Burns as the body tends to lose it's ability to thermo-regulate?