EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management Do you have an opinion on thermometers?

The Exergen's are very easy to use and within our hospital are well recieved, the current policy is for alcohol wipes, but they were brought with saving money in mind(Due to the fact that we dont have to buy covers).

We have had the Genius and Braun's. But I have seen countless times that the staff dont use the tympanic ones properly. Let alone being dropped via the vital signs monitor basket!

Bedford and Harlow Hospitals are using Exergen. The only problem does seem to be theft. Shame that they don't have an anti-theft alarm like the 2080A's.

Anybody notice the excessive turn around time when a Genius 1 is sent to Covidien in Bicester, sometimes months. I'm sure we had a better service from Balleymoney, which has now been closed.

Yes, I've been told about that. I assume its the same with the new Genius 2's? Not good when you consider that the Exergen is sent to America with a quoted turnaround time of 28 days!

In our hospital we have 'ISSUES' with the turnaround time from Tyco for the Genius 1's.
If you speak to your Rep they will give you a few units for float ones which we use for loan equipment whilst there unit is being repaired.

Hope it helps.

I have another query, this time about the Braun ThermoScan.
What temperature is it actually giving you? Is it the actual ear temperature or is it adjusted to reflect the temperature at another site (oral, rectal, core, etc)? I can't find this in any of the documentation.

Hi Stephen
It appears it reflects core temperature. http://www.braun.com/global/products/healthwellness/earthermometers/thermoscan/moreaccurate.html

Thanks Declan. Should have thought of looking at their website.

I'm doing the 'scientific thing' and measuring my own temperature. The Braun seems to be similar to the Genius and Genius 2 when they are in oral equivalence. Using Exergen as measure of core temp and it is higher by 0.5 deg!?

Stephen
It is now accepted that tympanic temperature measurement is the nearest to core temperature using a non-invasive method.
However, errors can still occur if the thermometer probe is incorrectly placed or the temperature is taken from the ear of a patient which is facing a window on a hot day!!

From the papers I have read, no-one can agree on what is best. There seems to be as many negative studies about tympanic thermometers as there are positive ones.
The other thing that occurs to me is that all the tympanic thrmometers display a temperature for an equivalent site (oral, axilla, etc) with offsets applied that are just fixed quantities, and all companies have different offsets (generated from their own limited studies). So if tympanic thermometers are the most accurate then why is this? If they are accurately measuring core temperature then why isn't that displayed? Even the Braun has an offset of 0.3 deg, even though it doesn't give you an option of equivalent sites!