© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Body Temperature Unit 18

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Objectives Spell and define terms. Identify, name, and tell the uses of the three types of clinical thermometers. Read a thermometer. Identify the range of normal temperature values. 2

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Introduction Body temperature is one of the vital signs. Measuring body temperature is a common nursing assistant task. 3

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Temperature Values Temperature values may be expressed in either of two scales: –Fahrenheit scale (F) –Celsius scale (C) 4

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Definition of Body Temperature Temperature is the measurement of body heat. It is the balance between heat produced and heat lost. 5

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Measuring Body Temperature Temperature is usually measured in one of five body areas: –Mouth –Ear –Forehead –Rectum –Axilla or groin 6

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Clinical Thermometers A patient’s temperature is determined by using a clinical thermometer: –Glass clinical thermometer –Electronic thermometer –Digital thermometer –Disposable oral thermometer –Tympanic thermometer –Temporal artery thermometer 7

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Average Temperature Average oral temperature range is 96.8°F (36°C) to 100.4°F (38°C) Average temperature is 98.6°F (37°C) 8

© 2016 Cengage Learning ®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Documentation In many facilities –Temperatures are recorded on a temperature clipboard –They are then transferred to the individual patient charts 9