Accurate and frequent temperature monitoring is paramount when it comes to ensuring favorable patient outcomes in the medical community. When a patient is admitted to the hospital, identifying illness or infection quickly has a profound impact on allowing for prompt treatment with antibiotics and can also be critical in the early identification of serious, life-threatening conditions like sepsis.
With the proliferation of less accurate temperature monitoring options during the pandemic, it’s vital now more than ever that hospitals and medical facilities are leveraging accurate, trustworthy tools and technologies that promote patient safety. The non-contact infrared thermometer (NCIT, sometimes known as “IR guns” as well) options that emerged and skyrocketed in popularity during the pandemic may have served their purpose to the best of their capacity during a time when public temperature screenings were the norm, but when it comes to monitoring in hospitals or medical facilities, NCITs should be avoided at all costs given the documented potential inaccuracies and inconsistencies associated with them. The FDA has recognized the limitations of these devices noting that factors such as measurement location, distance of the sensor, individual physiological attributes and environmental conditions can all impact the reliable performance of NCITs.
As the medical device industry moves past the pandemic, professionals must be cognizant of the products that have a proven track record of success and come from credible manufacturers. This is where temporal artery technology comes in. Temporal artery thermometers are considered to be very accurate in measuring body temperature and involve a touch scan of the forehead, unlike non-contact options. While these non-contact options may seem convenient, it is not worth the risk of potentially inaccurate readings for medical professionals and patients alike. By instead leveraging infrared technology by sliding the sensor of the thermometer across the skin of the forehead to measure the temperature of the temporal artery, a major artery of the head, these temporal artery thermometers quickly and accurately determine temperature changes.
The accuracy of temporal artery thermometers goes back to the area being scanned. The temporal artery is connected to the heart via the carotid artery, directly leading from the aorta, the main trunk of the arterial system, offering constant blood flow by the absence of arteriovenous anastamoses. It is the only such artery positioned close enough to the skin surface and in an exposed location to provide the access needed to take an accurate measurement. This actually allows for detection of temperature changes up to two hours earlier than other monitoring methods like oral or rectal thermometers – hence the ability to improve patient outcomes and detect potential infection earlier in order to begin necessary treatment and antibiotics.
A delay in the administration of antibiotics can be a significant cause of mortality in hospital settings. An analysis of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock demonstrated that a delay in antibiotic treatment was associated with an increased rate of in-hospital mortality, followed by a linear increase in the risk of mortality for each hour delay in antibiotic administration. A similar study determined that hourly delays in antibiotic administration were associated with increased odds of hospital mortality even among patients who received antibiotics within six hours. Not only does this make it clear that early detection is of the utmost importance when it comes to temperature monitoring, but also that a delay in detecting changes could lead to an extremely negative or even dangerous patient outcome.
Temperature in general is a key vital sign that is often overlooked in medical settings, along with other indicators like extremes of blood PH. However, recent studies have shown that these indicators are often the best mortality predictors and are vastly easier to obtain than some laboratory-tested parameters. With that said, accuracy is extremely pertinent for temperature monitoring as an inaccurate reading could directly contribute to a medical emergency and could create a significant patient safety issue. For healthcare professionals, accurate, quick, and reliable temperature monitoring devices using temporal artery technology save time and help ensure that patients are receiving the best quality care based on their current symptoms.
According to the World Health Organization, 50% of harm to patients (equating to 1 in 20 patients) is preventable. Healthcare professionals, medical facilities, and hospitals should be constantly evaluating their temperature monitoring tools and technologies to ensure they are bringing the best possible quality care to patients and detecting temperature changes that could ultimately lead to more positive outcomes across the medical community. Temporal artery thermometry technology should be standard across hospitals and facilities to promote this early detection and produce safer patient outcomes across the board.
About Dr. Francesco Pompei
Dr. Francesco Pompei is the Founder and CEO of Exergen Corporation. He holds BS and MS degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and SM and PhD degrees from Harvard University, where he was an active scientist in cancer research in the Department of Physics at Harvard University for 15 years. With over 100 patents and backed by 100+ clinical studies, half of all US hospitals rely on the Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer because of its accuracy and reliability, and it is currently used in 15 million homes around the world. Noninvasive thermometry systems for medical and industrial applications.