A comparison of infrared ear thermometry with electronic predictive thermometry in a geriatric setting

This project had three purposes to determine the test/retest reliability of three thermometers-an infrared ear thermometer, an oral electronic predict ive thermometer, and an oral mercury-in-glass thermometer (MIGT); determine the validity (accuracy) of the first two thermometers using the MIGT as th e gold standard; and calculate the thermometers' sensitivity and specificit y for detecting fever using 37.5 degrees C on the MIGT as the criterion. Th e MIGT had the best reliability, followed by the electronic predictive and infrared ear thermometer (for validity, the former was more accurate than t he latter). Little difference existed in the latter two thermometers' sensi tivity and specificity. However, the confidence intervals were wide and fur ther studies with larger samples need to be done to elucidate the thermomet ers diagnostic properties.