COLUMBUS, Ohio - is placed under a newborn's temperature with an infrared thermometer under the arm just as reliable as with a rectal temperature, suggests new research.
The researchers found that taking an infrared thermometer in the axillary (or arm) temperature of a newborn, the results were very similar to rectal temperature measurements - at least for babies who were not under a heat lamp.
"Rectal temperatures are the gold standard for measuring a newborn's temperature," said John Seguin, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University. "But forearm readings from infrared thermometer can be just as accurate and safe, and even faster. It takes less than two seconds to get a result this type of thermometer."
Nurses usually take a child's temperature within the first 30 to 60 minutes after birth to determine whether the child is too hot or too cold. Fluctuations in temperature could cause an infection may or excessive heat loss problems.
The research appears in the latest issue of the journal Clinical Pediatrics.
Seguin and co-author Kimberlee Terry, a former Ohio State medical student, measured axillary temperature of 16 newborns with infrared thermometers. They also compared the rectal temperatures of the forearm by a thermistor, or plastic-coated wire thermometer.
The researchers recorded the infants 'left and right axillary temperatures when the baby under a radiant heat source - like a heat lamp -. Shortly before the baby's first bath again took both axillary temperatures before transferring the baby in the nursery or their mothers' rooms .
The axillary temperatures were very different when the children were under the heat lamp. In fact, 22 percent of the temperatures with the infrared thermometer were used incorrectly low if the measured values compared to the rectal thermistor.
"There was a larger disagreement between rectal and axillary temperatures in neonates under a heat lamp, which can limit the use of infrared thermometers in this setting," said Seguin.
However, the researchers found that axillary temperatures taken one hour after the babies were wrapped in blankets in cribs and were more reliable substitute for rectal temperature readings.
"Small children tend to move much under the heat lamp," said Seguin. "The forearm skin temperature may vary depending on the child by the arm position before the measurement."
The researchers also questioned the axillary and rectal temperature of 12 premature infants in incubators compared. These babies were studied between five and 51 days old. The researchers took an axillary reading three hours after a feeding. They found that axillary and rectal temperatures were in close agreement, similar to the full-term babies in cribs.
It is also customary to take a child's temperature with an ear thermometer. However, the ear canals of newborns are usually too small to get an accurate reading.
Infrared temperature measurement - originally developed by NASA to measure the temperatures of distant stars and planets - seems to be the place of measuring temperatures with electronic thermometers, at least in the hospital setting. Efficiency is an important factor in using infrared thermometers, to Seguin.
"Mercury thermometers have to in place for nearly five minutes, and electronic devices are held for 90 seconds," he said. "That adds up if a nurse is to take the temperature of 10 or 15 babies several times."
While taking axillary temperatures with an infrared thermometer is a viable option for a newborn in a manger, with these devices in older infants, the result can be inaccurate.
"You would have to be tested in the older age group," said Seguin. "Researchers in England found that axillary temperatures with mercury-in-glass thermometer is not a good substitute for rectal temperature in infants up to 6 months old."
The Exergen Corporation of Watertown, Massachusetts, where the Neonate Lightouch infrared thermometer for this study.
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