title: Rectal versus axillary temperatures: is there a significant difference in infants less than 1 year of age?
abstract: There are identified gaps regarding the accuracy of axillary temperatures as a means of predicting core temperatures in infants and children. This article discusses the relationship between rectal and axillary temperatures in infants less than 1 year of age. This quality improvement project evaluated 425 paired temperature measurements in 86 infants admitted to an inpatient pediatric unit over a 2-month period. A correlation analysis showed statistically significant differences between the two measurements. The results of this project promoted the development of a standard of care for temperature measurement at the project facility.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. chris.stine@chp.edu
authors.forename: Chris A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Stine
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Flook
authors.forename: Durae L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Vincze
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001365:Axilla / Q000502:physiology; D001831:Body Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012007:Rectum / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods*