Re-evaluation of the tympanic thermometer in the emergency department.
OBJECTIVE
A study was undertaken to re-evaluate tympanic temperatures using a commonly used portable infrared tympanic thermometer.


METHODS
Temperatures were recorded sequentially at two body sites using an electronic digital thermometer and an infrared tympanic thermometer. The tympanic thermometer was set to the core equivalency setting.


METHODS
The emergency department of a Level 2 trauma center.


METHODS
Seventy-nine pediatric patients presenting to the ED.


RESULTS
Mean temperatures in the tympanic and rectal temperature groups were 38.5 +/- 1.08 C and 38.8 +/- 1.02 C, respectively (P greater than .05). The overall correlation of rectal and tympanic temperatures was 0.93 (P much less than .001). Stratifying the data by age resulted in a weakened correlation for patients 3 months of age and younger. For all strata, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the tympanic thermometer for predicting fever were 96.6%, 100%, 100%, and 90.1%, respectively; for patients more than 3 months of age, the values were 100% in all categories.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicate that the First Temp infrared tympanic thermometer accurately detected fever in a pediatric population more than 3 months old. Results were inconclusive in patients less than 3 months old.
Stewart
J V
JV
Department of Emergency Medicine, Silver Cross Hospital, Joliet, Illinois.
Webster
D
D
D001831:Body Temperature; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012007:Rectum; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013821:Thermometers; D014432:Tympanic Membrane