Q: A patient falls down outside during cold weather and cannot get up. They are brought in by EMS with a core temp of 32.5 degrees Celsius and a tibial shaft fracture. What codes would you use and why? Which body regions do you put the codes for ISS calculation and why?

A: Yes there is a hypothermia code in AIS and you would use the code 010004.2, since this is how the patient arrived and is not the result of treatment (or lack thereof) in the hospital. In this case, the hypothermia, would go to the external region for ISS calculation and the tibia fracture (854221.2) to the extremities. Therefore the hypothermia, could impact the overall ISS.