EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Genius 2 tympanic thermometers breaking

Hi All

We are having problems with Genius 2 tympanics breaking around the "neck" of the units. We now have managed to 'break' ten of the little buggers.

Is anyone else having the same problems?

Thanks Phil

Hi Phil,

We've had Genius 2's since Jan 2010...a few have had s/w problems locking up etc...we sent them back and got replacements..
But none (so far) with the problem you describe...
I will let you know if any come in with that prob...

Cheers,

Steve

We currently manage to break about 10 of them a week!! I just presumed the staff were using them to subdue the patients. Good job they repair them FOC.

hi Phil

We have had a few breaking around the neck. If you look on the metal ear piece you will see the dent were it hit the floor. Check that the retaining lugs on the cradle are still there as we have found a number with these broken. This allows the therm to fall out of the cradle easily and the cable is just long enough that it hits the floor at the right angle for the damage to occur.

Billy

We've had a whole spate of these recently. We actually got a bunch of replacements sent in, and we just send back the broken ones as we get them in.

I look after about 300 of them. Never had that happen (yet....). Worse problem is the lens. A speck of dirt will affect the calibration. Apart from that, units appear extremely reliable.

Yes you are right they need that lens to be clean, also if you clean them with IPA you have to leave them for at least half an hour and sometimes give the lens a bit of a buff.

We have the answer ready everytime the ward says it is reading low. 'Clean the earwax off the lens with a soft tissue'

Scrolling through this thread, I'm wondering if it should have been under "Jokes" (and I love a good laugh).

[whose neck, Billy ... the thermometer or the patient?]

Can all this expense, frustration, etc., etc. (let's collect it all together under the word nonsense, shall we?) be any worse than the "risks" (largely imagined, in my opinion) associated with the traditional (mercury) clinical thermometer?

Maybe Dominic needs to take a look at these things (rather than infusion devices, which have already been designed and refined to the n-th degree). How about making the casings from a rubberised material, for a start? They're more likely to bounce better that way.

By the way ... what about the results being achieved ... "patient outcomes" and all the rest? Is it still the norm that Nursing Auxiliaries (HCA's, or whatever they are called at the moment) get lumbered with doing the rounds collecting "stats"? How accurately are readings (*NIBP? Temp?) recorded? What use is made of all such data? How many boxes get ticked?

* Patients' general condition, pallour, need for a drink and all the rest being too much to hope for, I should imagine.