ICAR MEDCOM
Alpine Rescue & Mountain Emergency Medicine

ICAR MED REC 0040 2021

Clinical staging of accidental hypothermia: The Revised Swiss System

Nr.

ICAR-MED-REC-0040-2021

Version

1.0

Title

Clinical staging of accidental hypothermia: The Revised Swiss System

Recommendation of the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom)

Author(s)

Musi Martin, Sheets Alison, Zafren Ken, Brugger Hermann, Paal Peter, Hölzl Natalie, Pasquier Mathieu

Responsible person

Martin Musi

Originally based on

N/A

Date of publication

03/03/2021

Valid Until

02/03/2026


Background

Clinical staging of accidental hypothermia is used to guide out-of-hospital treatment and transport decisions. Most clinical systems utilize core temperature, by measurement or estimation, to stage hypothermia, despite the challenge of obtaining accurate field measurements. Recent studies have demonstrated that field estimation of core temperature is imprecise.
We propose a revision of the original Swiss Staging system. The revised system uses the risk of cardiac arrest, instead of core temperature, to determine the staging level. Our revised system simplifies assessment by using the level of responsiveness, based on the AVPU scale, and by removing shivering as a stage-defining sign.


Downloads

Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia (Short Version)
Clinical staging of accidental hypothermia: The Revised Swiss System: Recommendation of the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom)
MED REC 0040 2021 Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia.PDF (875.52KB)
Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia (Short Version)
Clinical staging of accidental hypothermia: The Revised Swiss System: Recommendation of the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom)
MED REC 0040 2021 Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia.PDF (875.52KB)







ICAR MED REC 0040 2021 B
Clinical Staging of accidentat hypothermia : The Revised Swiss System (RESCUER SUMMARY)
ICAR MED REC 40 2021 B Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss Sys.pdf (606.74KB)
ICAR MED REC 0040 2021 B
Clinical Staging of accidentat hypothermia : The Revised Swiss System (RESCUER SUMMARY)
ICAR MED REC 40 2021 B Clinical Staging of Accidental Hypothermia - The Revised Swiss Sys.pdf (606.74KB)





*Please note that this download is the General ICAR Recommendation designed primarily for the Rescuer community.



Link to the original publication online


https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(21)00096-4/fulltext