Does giving paracetamol to lower raised temperature interfere with the body's natural defence response to infection?
Nursing practice often involves procedures or management about which there is debate or uncertainty. In Practice Questions we ask experts to determine how nurses should approach these Practice question: All the nurses I know give paracetamol to lower a raised temperature even when the patient is not distressed. Some actually cause distress by removing blankets from a shivering patient with pyrexia. Surely both these actions are interfering with the body’s natural host defence response to infection? Pyrexia is a common clinical finding in illness, often indicating infection. The body’s immune response triggers heat generating strategies to kill invading bacteria and viruses. Interventions that interfere with this response may be unhelpful, particularly if they actually cause distress to the patient. Physiological response to infection Protective role of pyrexia Increase antibody production; Enhance mobility and function of neutrophils and macrophages (kill bacteria)...