Measurement of body temperature
Body temperature is measured by thermometers. The industry has recently produced mercury glass thermometers for measuring body temperature in the armpit, as well as in the mouth or in the rectum. Thermometers should be stored in a special cardboard or plastic package( cases) in places that exclude the possibility of damage. From broken thermometers, mercury emanates, the evaporation of which is a strong poison.
Therefore, if the mercury thermometers are damaged, their fragments and droplets of spilled mercury must be carefully collected, placed in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and handed over to the nearest pharmacy for subsequent disposal or disposal. In no case can you throw out the mercury collected from the broken thermometer in the garbage, as its vapors pose a great danger to the surrounding people and animals.
Before measuring the body temperature, the thermometer must be treated with a solution of 40-70-degree alcohol( not less than vodka) or 0.5% chloramine solution and wipe dry. The thermometer must be shaken with a sharp movement, but neatly, so as not to break. Use the thermometer can only after the mercury has dropped to zero. Often the mercury column of the thermometer appears to be broken air bubbles. Use a thermometer in these cases should not be, because the device will give a distorted body temperature. We must try to shake the thermometer with intense and sharp movements. If the attempts to correct the integrity of the mercury column are ineffective, the thermometer should be replaced by this method. In no case should the thermometer be lowered into hot water or by another thermal method attempting to correct its technical condition. This threatens to rupture the thermometer from overheating of mercury and spreading the latter in the room. Body temperature is measured, as a rule, in the armpit from either side. In young children or weakened patients, measurement of body temperature can be performed in inguinal folds. Before this diagnostic procedure, the skin at the temperature measurement site should be dry wiped: sweat reduces the thermometer reading. In severe and unconscious patients, measurement of body temperature should be performed in the rectum, rarely in the oral cavity. In these cases, it must be remembered that the temperature in the rectum usually exceeds the indications of the thermometer in the armpit or in the inguinal fold in the norm of 1 ° C, ie its normal values from 37.0 to 37.9 ° C.
Keep the thermometer in the armpit and elsewhere for at least 10 minutes. After each measurement of body temperature, its indices should be recorded on the patient's temperature sheet, which indicates the date and time of temperature measurement, the thermometer readings. A sheet of paper for recording temperature should be described as follows
Typically, body temperature is measured at least 3 times a day: before breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes, with persistent fluctuations in body temperature to determine its cause, clarify the nature of recovery and decrease, as well as temporary features of hyperthermia, the thermometry is performed on the doctor's recommendation 2-3 hours later, and in some cases every hour.
After measuring the body temperature, the thermometer should be reworked with a solution of alcohol or chloramine, shaken and put in a case where it should be stored until next use.