Assessment of body temperature is important for decisions in nursing care medical diagnosis treatment and the need of laboratory tests. The body is very good at keeping its temperature within a safe range even when temperatures outside the body change a lot.
Temperature Measurement
Body temperature measurement in nursing. In clinical practice measurement and management of body temperature is often based on tradition and personal ideas and beliefs rather than evidence based knowledge. Furlong et al 2015 as mixed venous blood temperature reflects thermoregulation by the hypothalamus. This article summarises the literature to provide a guide to evidence based assessment and evaluation of body temperature in clinical practice. While obtaining the vital signs of a patient the nurse finds that the body temperature of a client is 986f. Each user should be aware of the characteristics and limitations of these devices to interpret correctly the temperature reading on the display. Pulmonary artery pa temperature is considered the gold standard for measuring core body temperature fulbrook 1993.
When you are too hot the blood vessels in your skin widen to carry the excess heat to your skins surface. You may start to sweat. Due to temperature variation between body sites ideally the same route should be used for ongoing patient observations as to allow for accurate temperature trend evaluation. The article provides an insight into commonly used clinical thermometers how they determine each temperature reading and crucially how users affect the measurement process. Sometimes babies and young children have higher body temperature ranges than adults for armpit and ear measurements. Body temperature is a measure of your bodys ability to make and get rid of heat.
Document the route used in emr. Other invasive methods include esophageal rectal and bladder measurements. A healthy body maintains its temperature within a narrow range using homeostatic thermoregulation mechanisms pocock and richards 2009. Since then the technical design and the accuracy of thermometers has. Methods of body temperature measurements. The nurse concludes that the client is experiencing what.
The normal range for core temperature in the literature varies although 36c 375c is acceptable in clinical practice childs 2011. In health centres and hospitals nurses are responsible for measuring body temperature accurately and it is important to take into account the kind of thermometer and the area of the body used for taking the measurement khorshid et al 2005. A normal body temperature for infants aged 02 years ranges from 979100. Temperature management nursing guideline evidence table 2019. The definition of normal body temperature as 37c was established in the middle of the 19th century.