[Can ear temperature measurement be used in a hospital?].
BACKGROUND
There are two principle means of infrared thermometry: tympanic thermometry and ear canal thermometry. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of these ear thermometers compared with the digital rectal thermometer.


METHODS
We used two different infrared ear thermometers in this study; one type measured the tympanic temperature, the other the temperature in the ear canal. The rectal temperature was defined as the gold standard. The temperatures measured with the ear thermometers were compared to rectal temperature on 213 patients older than 18 years at Haukeland University Hospital.


RESULTS
The tympanic and ear canal measurements showed an average of 0.5 and 0.2 degrees Celsius respectively lower than the rectal temperature. The difference between the two types of ear thermometers was 0.4 degrees (p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.42). By using the tympanic thermometer, the sensitivity of detecting fever was 14% and the negative predictive value was 89%. Ear canal thermometry had 55% sensitivity for finding fever and a negative predictive value of 95%.


CONCLUSIONS
There are many advantages by using ear thermometers, but the accuracy and ability to detect fever is not good enough for it to be recommended in a clinical practice. We recommend using rectal thermometers.
Nordås
Turid Grydeland
TG
Institutt for kirurgiske fag, Universitetet i Bergen, Kirurgisk avdeling, Haukeland Universitetssjukehus. tnordas@broadpark.no
Leiren
Silje
S
Hansen
Kari Schrøder
KS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004424:Ear Canal / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012007:Rectum / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013817:Thermography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D013821:Thermometers; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000502:physiology