Supralingual temperatures compared to tympanic and rectal temperatures.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the validity, reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of the PaciTemp supralingual digital pacifier thermometer as compared to the Thermoscan Instant tympanic and glass-mercury rectal thermometers.


METHODS
Eighty-one children under the age of 2 years had temperatures taken sequentially at three body sites: supralingual, tympanic, and rectal. Corrections were calculated between the readings of the three types of thermometers. Percentage of agreement was done to examine sensitivity and specificity.


RESULTS
Using the glass-mercury measurement as the standard, both the supralingual and tympanic measurements showed an overall specificity of 62.8% and sensitivity of 63.3%. Correlation between rectal and supralingual was 0.62, and correlation between rectal and tympanic was 0.71.


CONCLUSIONS
The Paci-Temp provides temperature readings that are similar to the tympanic method as compared to the rectal method. Further research on at-home thermometers is needed.
Beckstrand
R L
RL
Brigham Young University College of Nursing in Provo, UT, USA. renea_beckstrand@byu.edu
Wilshaw
R
R
Moran
S
S
Schaalje
G B
GB
D002675:Child, Preschool; D015400:Clinical Nursing Research; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth; D010371:Pediatric Nursing; D012007:Rectum; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013821:Thermometers / Q000592:standards*; D014432:Tympanic Membrane