Ear Temperature as Predictor of Rectal Temperature Measured With Modern Devices in the Emergency Department.

Ear Temperature, Measured With 3. Generation Tympanic Thermometers as Predictor of Rectal Temperature in the Emergency Department Population

Ear thermometers are often requested to be used rather than rectal thermometer (gold standard) for measuring the body temperature, as this method is faster and more user friendly. Former ear thermometers did not meet the required standards of accuracy for clinical use. However, a new generation of ear thermometers have been developed and widely used in the Emergency departments in Denmark. The devices have only been evaluated in two studies on adult populations, with conflicting results.

This cross-sectional study will examine patients by measuring both ear and rectal temperature in the same patient at the same time on admission to an emergency department, to evaluate if temperature measured in the ear can be used as the standard temperature measurement.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Fever

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 600

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Aabenraa, Denmark, 6200
    • Aabenraa Sygehus Emergency Department

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

600 adult patients admitted to emergency department

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• admission to emergency department

Exclusion Criteria:

• no rectum

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
The Body Temperature in Celcius degrees	Up to 24 hours after arrival to Emergency Department

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern Denmark

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Mogensen CB, Vilhelmsen MB, Jepsen J, Boye LK, Persson MH, Skyum F. Ear measurement of temperature is only useful for screening for fever in an adult emergency department. BMC Emerg Med. 2018 Dec 3;18(1):51. doi: 10.1186/s12873-018-0202-5.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: November 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): March 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 18, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 29, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): November 30, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 18, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 17, 2017
• Last Verified: May 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Emergencies
• Other Study ID Numbers: SHS-ED-11-2016

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO