Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Out-of-Hospital Evaluation and Treatment of Accidental Hypothermia: 2019 Update

• Published in: Wilderness & environmental medicine Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. S47 - S69
• Main Authors: Dow, Jennifer, Giesbrecht, Gordon G., Danzl, Daniel F., Brugger, Hermann, Sagalyn, Emily B., Walpoth, Beat, Auerbach, Paul S., McIntosh, Scott E., Némethy, Mária, McDevitt, Marion, Schoene, Robert B., Rodway, George W., Hackett, Peter H., Zafren, Ken, Bennett, Brad L., Grissom, Colin K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Elsevier Inc 01.12.2019; SAGE Publications
• Subjects: cold; Humans; Hypothermia - diagnosis; Hypothermia - physiopathology; Hypothermia - therapy; Practice Patterns, Physicians; resuscitation; rewarming; shivering; Societies, Medical; wilderness medicine; Wilderness Medicine - methods; Wilderness Medicine - standards; wilderness medicine; resuscitation; cold; shivering; rewarming
• ISSN: 1080-6032; 1545-1534
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wem.2019.10.002

To provide guidance to clinicians, the Wilderness Medical Society convened an expert panel to develop evidence-based guidelines for the out-of-hospital evaluation and treatment of victims of accidental hypothermia. The guidelines present the main diagnostic and therapeutic modalities and provide recommendations for the management of hypothermic patients. The panel graded the recommendations based on the quality of supporting evidence and a balance between benefits and risks/burdens according to the criteria published by the American College of Chest Physicians. The guidelines also provide suggested general approaches to the evaluation and treatment of accidental hypothermia that incorporate specific recommendations. This is the 2019 update of the Wilderness Medical Society Practice Guidelines for the Out-of-Hospital Evaluation and Treatment of Accidental Hypothermia: 2014 Update.