On Thu, 23 Apr 1998 18:44:39 +0100, Graham Balin <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>paul> I have bagsied, is one of those click in the ear thermometers. *very* handy
>paul> even on a wiggling child.
>
>Interesting. I *won* one of these, and I agree about handiness in
>wriggling children, but have you checked the accuracy?
I looked up the published papers on Medline before buying the Braun
one for 40ukp from Boots. Everyone seems to agree that they are more
accurate than oral thermometers and only rivalled by rectal temps. One
paper even looked at pts with unilateral otitis media and found the
tympanic temp. was little different in the two ears and both readings
were close to the rectal temp.
Since buying my own I too find that I sometimes get readings up to
half a degree different in the two ears, but I think that there is
some technique in holding the ear so the device gets a view of the
drum. The "nozzle" on the Braun is a little large for babies, which
may be part of the problem.
Overall, it's one of my favourite medical gadgets. Before, I used to
reckon it was rarely worth sitting around for 2-3 mins for a digital
oral thermometer to work, plus the hassle of cleaning it after. Now it
takes about 5 secs for the Braun to warm up and 1 sec to take a
reading. I use it a lot and it does change management when you find an
unexpected pyrexia. The main snag is it does not work below about 15
C, so if it's been in the car overnight it needs warming up.
Also, it impresses the pts no end! :-)
David
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Dr David Evans
Cardiff
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