It’s getting cold out there

In this issue of the journal, you will note that we have a special focus on accidental hypothermia. In fact, we have no less than four articles covering this issue: two original articles and two commentaries. Freeman et al focus on the pre-hospital management of accidental hypothermia and report the results of a national survey of practice for preventing and managing accidental hypothermia among pre-hospital retrieval services (see page 652). Having approached ground ambulance, air ambulance, mountain rescue, lowland rescue, cave rescue and lifeboat and lifeguard organisations, they identify substantial variation in practice with regards to packaging, temperature monitoring and the management of accidental hypothermia in this context. In the accompanying commentary (see page 657), Dr Gordon suggests that the voluntary status of many of these search and rescue organisations may have prevented them …