Paramedic PapersHome Other Few heat-stroke cooling devices suit the prehospital setting
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Few heat-stroke cooling devices suit the prehospital setting
Heat Stroke Cooling Devices for Prehospital Use: A Systematic Review
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine · 2026 · Added 31 October 2026
A US systematic review of 18 commercial heat-stroke cooling devices found only three reached the ideal prehospital cooling rate (at least 0.155°C/min) and just five met single-person portability, with most relying on water, power or disposables.
- Study type
- Systematic review
- Design
- Systematic review of commercially available cooling devices
- Participants
- 18 commercial cooling devices
- Main finding
- Three of 18 devices met the ideal cooling threshold (≥0.155°C/min), two were acceptable (0.078–0.154°C/min), 61% reported no cooling-rate data, and five met the ≤16 kg single-person portability limit
- Caveat
- Device specification review with no clinical outcome data, and cooling-rate figures were missing for most products
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Heat illness is a summer mainstay for Australian crews and rapid cooling on scene is the established treatment, so which devices actually perform in the field matters directly here.
Learning goal
Weigh which cooling devices suit prehospital heat stroke care given portability and cooling rate trade-offs.
More
- Topic: Other
- Daily scan: 31 October 2026
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