Comparing tympanic temperatures in both ears to oral temperature in the critically ill adult.
Tympanic temperatures are often used in the critical care units to measure core body temperatures when pulmonary artery catheters are not available. This study was conducted to compare tympanic temperatures in the right and left ear with oral temperatures. The findings of this study show that choosing the optimal site for each patient and using patient-specific site consistently would result in better tracking of changes in temperature and, thus, timely diagnosis of fever.
Spitzer
Olinda P
OP
Critical Care Nurse and educator, Penrose-St. Francis Health Systems, Colorado Springs, CO 80907, USA.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015982:Bias; D001831:Body Temperature; D002138:Calibration; D015400:Clinical Nursing Research; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000451:nursing; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D009061:Mouth Mucosa; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013817:Thermography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D014432:Tympanic Membrane