COLD COMPRESS – Nurse Info - Bibliobazar Digi Books

COLD COMPRESS (Cold Application) – Definition, Purpose, General Instructions, Preliminary Assessment Check, Effects, Physiologic Effects, Indications, Preparation of the Patient and Environment, Equipment, Procedure, After Care and Contraindications

Updated 2024

Cold
compress is a local moist cold moist application made out of folded layers of
gauze, lint piece or old soften linen, wring out of cold or ice water or in
some evaporating lotion.

DEFINITION

A cloth
wrung from cold or ice water which may be applied to any part of the body.

PURPOSE

To provide comfort
To reduce body temperature
To reduce inflammation and edema
To relieve pain, burning sensation
and irritation
To anesthetize for short time
To control hemorrhage
To inhibit bacterial growth and thus
prevent suppuration

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Application of cold compress over the
skin helps in conduction of heat
Cold application beyond 20 minutes
leads to secondary effects
Check the temperature every 15
minutes, it helps in detection of any variations in the body temperature

PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT CHECK

The doctor order for any specific
instruction
General condition and diagnosis of
the patient
Self-care ability of the patient
Assess for the need of cold
applications
Frequency and duration of application
For any contraindication of cold
application
Articles available in the unit

EFFECTS

To prevent
the depression that often occurs following heating treatments. The most
effective form of cold compress is a small towel wrapped around the head like a
turban during the treatment. The same receptors, or special nerve endings,
which serve to convey stimuli to the blood vessels and nerve endings, hence to
all the organs reflex connected with them, are affected as much by cold
applications as by hot. The more intense is the stimulation, the greater the
reaction.

PHYSIOLOGIC EFFECTS

To decrease blood flow locally and distally
To prevent and relieve congestion
For relief of pain due to edema
and/or trauma
If applied over the heart: will slow
the heart rate, increase the force and raise the arterial blood pressure
To increase the reflect effect of
thermal applications by increasing the difference between hot and cold; an
example is using the cold compress following a fomentation.

INDICATIONS

Throbbing pain due to edema or
trauma, such as sprains
Fevers
Congestion in the face and
head-sinusitis and head-ache (use with a hot foot bath)
As a precordial compress in
tachycardia-fast heartbeat (more than 100 beats/min)
May be applied as a turban to the
head or cravat to the neck with general applications of heat
Headache-apply cold compress to head
while using a hot foot bath
Passive chest congestion in lung
problems, together with fomentations