title: Comparison of the use of liquid crystal thermometers with glass mercury thermometers in febrile children in a children's ward at Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea.
abstract: We compared the temperatures recorded, in febrile children admitted to a children's ward at Port Moresby General Hospital, by a doctor and by a group of nurses using glass mercury thermometers (GMT) and liquid crystal thermometers (LCT, Nextemp and Traxit. The mean difference (with 95% confidence intervals) in temperatures between GMT and Nextemp were -0.12 degrees C (-0.16 degrees C to -0.08 degrees C) for the doctor and 0.12 degrees C (0.04-0.20 degrees C) for nurses. The mean difference in temperatures between GMT and Traxit were -0.05 degrees C (-0.09 degrees C to -0.01 degrees C) for the doctor and 0.19 degrees C (0.10-0.28 degrees C) for the nurses. A similar result was obtained when one of the Nextemp thermometers used in the initial study was compared with GMT on a small sample of patients by the doctor 8 months later. Limited evaluation showed nursing staff were in favour of using the LCTs. Nextemp and Traxit thermometers can be used interchangeably with GMT in this setting.
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Department, Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mauta
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vince
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ripa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001831:Body Temperature; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013821:Thermometers