To Touch or Not to Touch: That is the Question Using the Evidence to Change Thermometry Practice
PICO Question
In PACU patients do temperatures obtained with the temporal artery and no touch thermometers compare favorably to temperatures by an oral electronic thermometer?
Significance/Evidence Summary
- The American Society of Peri-Anesthesia Nurses (ASPAN), Does not fully support the use of tympanic thermometers in PACU
- Our PACU staff are hesitant to use tympanic devices and to use alternative means such as oral thermometry, which is not always appropriate in are requesting an alternative device.
- Current practice in our Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) is tympanic thermometers.
- The aims of this project were:
- to determine if a temporal artery thermometer (TAT)^ and a no touch forehead thermometer (NT) compare favorably to an oral thermometer and
- allowr the PACU nurses to determine their thermometer preference, and recommend a practice change
Methodology
- Prior to discharge from the PACU, forty patients had their temperature recorded, using each method: oral electronic, tympanic and temporal artery, and no touch forehead.
- After completion of trial, PACU staff completed a product evaluation to determine which device they preferred.
Results or Implications
- Accepted a priori values for agreement between the test and reference standards are < ± 0.6 degrees for Bias and < = 1.0 degrees for precision.
- Results for both the TAT and no touch were within acceptable values, and therefore did compare favorably to the oral electronic mode.
Recommendations
Research on these devices should be done on immediate post operative patients to determine accuracy and reliability on potentially hypothermic patients.
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