Premium
Comparing mercury‐in‐glass, tympanic and disposable thermometers in measuring body temperature in healthy young people
Author(s) -
Khorshid Leyla,
Eşer İsmet,
Zaybak Ayten,
Yapucu Ülkü
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2004.01076.x
Subject(s) - thermometer , mercury (programming language) , confusion , medicine , temperature measurement , materials science , surgery , physics , psychology , quantum mechanics , computer science , psychoanalysis , programming language
Aim and objectives. The aim of this study was to determine whether a disposable thermometer was at least as accurate as a tympanic thermometer when compared with a mercury‐in‐glass thermometer and to investigate the waiting periods of mercury‐in‐glass thermometers. Background. Although different methods of temperature measurement have been widely studied and described during the last decade, comparison between readings obtained when measuring body temperature using disposable, mercury‐in‐glass and tympanic thermometers is little documented and there is confusion about the waiting periods of mercury‐in‐glass thermometers. Methods. This research was descriptive and comparative. Temperature measurements included three sequential readings using first a tympanic thermometer in the left ear, then a disposable thermometer in the left axillary area and finally a mercury‐in‐glass thermometer in the right axillary area. All the temperatures were measured on the Celsius (°C) scale. To identify the stabilization periods of the mercury‐in‐glass thermometers, the temperature measurement was repeated until the reading stabilized. F ‐tests were used to compare readings of the mean temperatures. Results. It was found that body temperature readings measured by tympanic thermometer were higher than axillary mercury‐in‐glass thermometer by 0.12 °C, body temperature readings measured by tympanic thermometer were higher than axillary disposable thermometer readings by 0.65 °C and body temperature readings measured by axillary mercury‐in‐glass thermometer were higher by 0.53 °C than readings measured by axillary disposable thermometer. It was found that readings measured by mercury‐in‐glass thermometer stabilized in the eighth minute. Relevance to clinical practice. When assessing body temperature it is important to take the type of thermometer into consideration. In addition, axillary mercury‐in‐glass thermometers must be kept in place a minimum of eight minutes.