Ask HRC: Maximum Blanket-Warmer Settings for Infants

​A Healthcare Risk Controlmember recently inquired about the maximum setting for warmers used for infant blankets. The member, based on her own research, asked whether 104°F was the maximum safe temperature.

ECRI Institute since 2009 has advocated 130°F as the maximum safe temperature setting for blanket warmers and has not differentiated between the temperature for blankets used on infant or adult patients with this recommendation. (See the guidance article Warming Cabinets for a review of ECRI Institute's recommendations about safe blanket-warmer temperatures. ) This maximum temperature was arrived at through an extensive review of the literature on thermal burns and...