7
What else should I know?
• A dirty probe lens and cone can cause
a low reading. If not shiny, clean the
lens and cone with an alcohol prep or a
Q-tip moistened in alcohol.
• It is preferable
to hold the
instrument
sideways.
Approaching
your patient with
the instrument
straight up and down could be
somewhat intimidating, especially
to an agitated patient.
• If you are right
handed, you
might nd
it easier to
measure the
left side of your
patient; a left
hander would
nd measuring the right side of the
patient to be easier.
• Consider holding the thermometer like
a pencil or pen as illustrated.
• If your patient is agitated, or squirms
away before you have completed your
measurement, just keep the button
depressed and you can continue the
measurement without having to wait.
Why measure behind the ear lobe
(BE) as well as the temporal artery?
To avoid any possibility of false low
temperature caused by diaphoresis,
which many times is not obvious. Think
of it as a touch of insurance.
How does diaphoresis affect
readings?
Moisture cools the skin over the
temporal artery area.
Why behind the ear lobe?
If your patient is sweaty, vasodilation will
always be present, and blood ow BE will
be as high as the TA area were it dry.
What if the TA area has been
traumatized by burns or lacerations,
or is completely covered with
dressings?
With head trauma, surgical or accidental,
the temperature can be obtained from
the alternative site on the neck BE. Just
as with diaphoresis, the perfusion will
be high.
Why not use the area BE as a
sole site?
Without diaphoresis or head trauma, this
area is just too variable to be reliable as
a sole site.
Measuring TA Temperature
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