Comparison of the Use of Liquid Crystal Thermometers with Glass Mercury Thermometers in Febrile Children in a Children's Wardn at Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea

摘要

We compared the temperatures recorded, in febrile children admitted to a children's ward at Port Moresby General Hospital, by a doctor and by a group of nurses using glass mercury thermometers (GMT) and liquid crystal thermometers (LCT, NextempR and TraxitR). The mean difference (with 95% confidence intervals) in temperatures between GMT and NextempR were −0.12°C (−0.16°C to −0.08°C) for the doctor and 0.12°C (0.04–0.20°C) for nurses. The mean difference in temperatures between GMT and TraxitR were −0.05°C (−0.09°C to −0.01°C) for the doctor and 0.19°C (0.10–0.28°C) for the nurses. A similar result was obtained when one of the NextempR thermometers used in the initial study was compared with GMT on a small sample of patients by the doctor 8 months later. Limited evaluation showed nursing staff were in favour of using the LCTs. NextempR and TraxitR thermometers can be used interchangeably with GMT in this setting.