Comparison of non-invasive fever measurement methods in pediatric patients

It is important to detect fever in the early period and perform necessary interventions in childhood. The evaluation and management of fever is also a part of the daily practice of the nurses working in child clinics. The most accurate and reliable method of measuring fever in children is a topic that has been studied for years. Advances in thermometer technology play a very important role in the early and accurate recognition of fever. The introduction of measurement methods such as infrared tympanic membrane thermometer and infrared noncontact forehead thermometer in addition to habitually used oral, rectal, and the mercury thermometer from axillary regions to measure body temperature has led to a further increase in confusion as to which method should be the most appropriate. In this study, it was aimed to eliminate the uncertainty about the most appropriate thermometer and the most appropriate anatomical region caused by the developments related to fever measuring devices in recent years. This study was carried out in Aydın Adnan Menderes Practice and Training Hospital, Child Health and Diseases Clinic. The study included patients aged between 1 month and 18 years, with a body temperature of ≥38°C which was measured with a tympanic thermometer used in routine clinical follow-up, and who were hospitalized with any diagnosis. Normal body temperatures were also measured in follow-up of the same group of patients. The measurements were perforemed with mercury glass (axillary), electronic (axillary), infared non-contact (forehead) and tympanic (ear) thermometers, and the results were recorded together with their demographic characteristic such as age, gender, etc. on the data form.In this study, in which the body temperatures of 101 patients were measured, it was found that the measurement performed by electronic method were significantly lower in both febrile and non-febrile periods than in the other three methods. Keywords:Fever Child, Thermometer