Adherence to standards of care and implications of body temperature measurement in trauma patients.
OBJECTIVE
To identify adherence to the standard that trauma patients have body temperature (T) recorded, range-of-temperature measurements, and the incidence of hypothermia recorded; and to examine the relationship between (T) and Injury Severity Score (ISS).


METHODS
A retrospective review of the records of 60 trauma patients was conducted.


RESULTS
Forty percent of the patient records had temperatures recorded with values that ranged from (T) 87-100.6 degrees F; 33% of the patients had hypothermia as defined by a temperature of 96.6 degrees F or less. There appeared to be a significant inverse relationship between (T) and ISS.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on the data, temperature was recorded in only 40% of the cases sampled. Adherence to the standard of measuring and recording a value was only intermittently followed. Nursing personnel should be educated to appreciate the potential for unsuspected hypothermia and to respond by following the standards of care.
Shreve
W S
WS
St Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo, OH, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001831:Body Temperature; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000451:nursing; D007223:Infant; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000150:complications*; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D009731:Nursing Audit; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012189:Retrospective Studies