NexTemp thermometer can be used interchangeably with tympanic or mercury thermometers for emergency department use

Objectives To determine the agreement between the chemical dot NexTemp thermometer with mercury and tympanic thermometers and the repeatability of measurements using these devices. Methods A prospective study involving a convenience sample of 194 consenting adult patients presenting to the ED, Freemasons Hospital, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A survey of emergency medical staff was conducted to determine what they considered an acceptable level of agreement and repeatability for a putative new thermometer. The NexTemp thermometer’s performance was judged against this. For each thermometer, a set of two temperature measurements was made in every patient. The sequence of the set of readings (and hence device) was random between patients and the staff member performing one set was blinded to the results of the other two sets of readings in each patient. The method of Bland and Altman was used for assessing agreement and repeatability. Results Clinicians considered that a new thermometer should exhibit repeatability of ±0.3°C and agree with existing devices within ±0.5°C. The tympanic thermometer had 95% limits of repeatability of ?0.8–0.5°C compared with the NexTemp (?0.3–0.4°C) and mercury thermometers (?0.3–0.4°C). The NexTemp thermometer agreed with mercury thermometer within ?0.6–0.5°C. The tympanic thermometer agreed with the mercury thermometer within ?1.0–1.1°C. Conclusion Based on temperature measurement only, the NexTemp thermometer can be used interchangeably with current mercury and tympanic thermometers.