Using the Thermometer

Everyone knows that the thermometer is a device that is used to measures the body temperature. There are many ways of measuring the body temperature using a thermometer. When it comes to measuring the body temperature the procedure that is not preferred by many is the rectal temperature. The procedure for measuring rectal temperature is risky and painful. Unless one is experienced in this procedure it may hurt the rectum. Rectal temperature provided the most accurate body temperature. The mouth temperature procedure cannot be used in the case of new born and little older infants. The best and safest place to record baby’s temperature is the armpit (axilla) or the groin. What is more important is to keep the thermometer in place for at least 3 minutes. The so called half a minute and instant thermometers are misnomers. There are other kinds of medical thermometers such as the tympanic or ear thermometer that measures the temperature of the tympanum by infrared measurement, and the band thermometer that is applied to the patient's brow or forehead. A newer development is the temporal artery thermometer, which uses the infrared principle to accurately report a patient's temperature, with comparable accuracy to rectal thermometer.