Document 0586
 DOCN  M9650586
 TI    Screening for fever in an adult emergency department: oral vs tympanic
       thermometry.
 DT    9605
 AU    Hooker EA; Houston H; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of
       Louisville School; of Medicine, Ky., USA.
 SO    South Med J. 1996 Feb;89(2):230-4. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/96165414
 AB    The accuracy of tympanic thermometers in clinical practice continues to
       be questioned. We evaluated the Genius tympanic thermometer in our adult
       emergency department. All patients had both tympanic and oral
       temperature measurements. Patients with an oral or tympanic temperature
       > or = 100.0 degrees F had a rectal temperature taken. Oral and rectal
       measurements were taken with the IVAC 2080A electronic thermometer, and
       the Genius thermometer was used in the oral equivalent mode. All
       instruments were calibrated. Of the 332 patients entered into the study,
       51 had oral or tympanic temperatures > or = 100.0 degrees F. Forty-one
       of these patients consented to a rectal temperature measurement. The
       correlation (r) between tympanic and oral, tympanic and rectal, and oral
       and rectal temperature was .845, .853, and .940, respectively. The oral
       thermometer identified all 28 febrile patients (rectal temperature > or
       = 100.4 degrees F). However, the tympanic thermometer detected fever in
       only 19 of these cases. Two patients in whom the tympanic thermometer
       failed to detect fever had AIDS, and their workup was altered by the
       detection of the fever. We conclude that the tympanic thermometer is not
       as sensitive as the oral thermometer in the detection of fever. The use
       of tympanic thermometers in the adult emergency department should be
       questioned.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/PHYSIOPATHOLOGY  Adult  Body
       Temperature  Calibration  Electronics, Medical/INSTRUMENTATION
       *Emergency Service, Hospital  Equipment Design  Fever/*DIAGNOSIS  Human
       Mouth  Rectum  Sensitivity and Specificity  *Thermometers  Tympanic
       Membrane  JOURNAL ARTICLE

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