Ro. Wright et al., USE OF INFRARED THERMOMETRY TO MEASURE LAVAGE AND INTRAVENOUS FLUID TEMPERATURE, The American journal of emergency medicine, 13(3), 1995, pp. 281-284
A study was conducted to determine the accuracy of tympanic thermomete
rs for measuring the temperature of warmed fluids in fluid bags and in
tubing at the delivery site tie, beside the intravenous [IV] catheter
), One-liter 0.9% saline bags were warmed in a microwave oven, A therm
ocouple electronic temperature probe was then used to measure the refe
rence temperature, The probe was inserted into each bag and bathed in
the fluid, Temperature changes were recorded simultaneously over a 20-
minute period using the probe and a First Temp Tympanic Thermometer (I
ntelligent Medical Systems, Inc, Carlsbad, CA). The warmed fluid was t
hen allowed to run through microdrip IV tubing. Temperature of the eff
luent was measured in the tubing using the tympanic thermometer extern
ally and the probe internally at the same point, The two measures were
compared using linear regression and Student's t tests. Overall, the
correlation between the two probes was r = 0.99 for both the fluid bag
s and the IV tubing. The overall mean differences were small, 0.7 degr
ees C and 1.2 degrees C for the bags and tubing, respectively, but the
y were statistically different (P > .05), Data were analyzed in three
temperature ranges: <36 degrees C, 36 degrees C to 41 degrees C, and >
41 degrees C, Again, small differences were found on the order of 1 de
grees C. It was concluded that infrared thermometry is an accurate met
hod for measuring the initial and delivery temperature of warmed fluid
s. Although tympanic thermometer measurements were statistically diffe
rent from reference readings in certain temperature ranges, these diff
erences were small and not clinically significant. Tympanic thermomete
rs can measure the temperature of warmed fluid bags and lavage and IV
effluent adjacent to the catheter site, ensuring that hypothermic pati
ents receive fluid at therapeutic temperatures. Copyright (C) 1995 by
W.B. Saunders Company