Time is Brain: Ice Bath Edition 
^{Saturday, April 20, 2024; 9 - 9:30 a.m.}
Douglas Young, DO

As temperatures continue to rise globally, and in the US, heat-related illnesses also increase, Heat Stroke, in particular has a national death rate of 0.3 per 100,000, with some of the highest rates in Texas. Early intervention is crucial to improve outcomes for patients with heat stroke, as the prognosis worsens the longer the patient's core temperature remains elevated. Prehospital treatment is essential, and cold water immersion therapy is the most effective way to cool heat stroke patients. Our research has demonstrated that this therapy can be administered in both prehospital and emergency department settings using a novel cooling method with body bags or TEMP bags. By increasing the cooling rate, we have seen excellent patient outcomes, decreasing the length of stays, the need for critical care, and less long-term morbidity. We recommend that all EMS systems and Emergency Departments adopt this approach to treat this growing patient population.

Objectives:

1. Learners will have a deep understanding of the pathophysiology of heat stroke and the sequelae of the disease process.
2. Learners will be introduced to the concept of the TEMP (Thermal Emergency Patient) bag (body bag) usage for the initial cooling strategy that can be used prehospital.
3. Learners will be presented with working protocols for cooling and review several cases that show the success of the TEMP bag protocol.

Douglas Young, DO

Dr. Douglas Young is a current 3rd year emergency medicine resident at UT Health Science Center San Antonio and future EMS Fellow. He published the first case report in Texas describing the use of ice water immersion therapy for the treatment of heat stroke in the prehospital setting. He continues to advance the research into optimizing prehospital heat stroke management to decrease morbidity and mortality for this patient population.