At 00:02 20/12/98 , you wrote:
>In a message dated 19/12/98 18:22:35 GMT, Julian wrote:
>
><< Can anyone offer specific examples of situations where taking a temp. is
> clinically useful? >>
>
>Abdominal pain. Especially low grade lower abdo. pain that's been present a
>couple of days. Normal temp. and pulse very reassuring whereas the opposite
>would make me inclined to think that there was possibly something significant
>going on.
>
>Also loin pain with a fever suggests a significant upper UTI that it's
>important to treat promptly.
>
>It's always supportive rather than evidence which is freestanding in its own
>right - but then just about every clinical sign has to be interpreted in the
>light of the history and the whole picture - doesn't it?
>
>Robert Upshall
Agree that thinking about fever is useful in both of these situations...
But the evidence suggests that our hands are good guides! Medical students
beat mothers, but even the mothers were pretty good, just by touch.
It's a bit like taking a pulse. Will count it sometimes, but don't need
a stopwatch for vast majority of normal pulses... they feel normal.
Am I alone in this?
Julian
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