To prevent heat loss by conduction, the nurse should apply a reflective blanket, as it reduces heat transfer through direct contact. Conduction is just one of the methods of heat transfer, others being convection, radiation, and evaporation.
To prevent heat loss by conduction, the intervention a nurse should implement is applying a reflective blanket (Option B). This is because conduction is a method of heat transfer where heat is lost through direct contact between two surfaces. By using a reflective blanket, the direct contact with colder surfaces is minimized, thus reducing heat loss. Other methods of heat transfer include convection, which involves the movement of heat through fluids such as air or water, and radiation, which is the transfer of heat through electromagnetic waves. Similarly, evaporation causes heat loss when liquid turns into vapor, taking heat from the skin's surface.
An example of conduction from daily life is the transfer of heat into your hands as you hold a hot cup of coffee. Conversely, to protect a patient in a clinical setting, a reflective blanket would be more effective compared to increasing room temperature, providing warm fluids, or giving warm compresses which address other methods of heat loss such as radiation, evaporation, and convection respectively.