Oral Route Temperature Essay

Gormley-Fleming (2006) states that oral route temperature is taken by mouth, placing either the digital or a disposable thermometer under the child's tongue in the sublingual heat pocket. This can only be used with older children as there are risks of younger children biting or breaking the thermometer with their mouth closed (Gormley-Fleming. 2006). This method cannot be used on a child that just had a hot or cold drink as this will affect the temperature measurement. For axillary route, the thermometer is placed in the patient's armpit and left in place for as long as is indicated by the device manufacturer (Gormley-Fleming, 2006). The disadvantage of this route according to Gormley-Fleming (2006) is that it takes a lot of time to measure which can be challenging for a child to be in the same position for a long time. The temporal artery route is a quick measurement of the temperature of the skin on the forehead using a special thermometer (Bahorski et al., 2012). This is used mostly on infants and patients that are older than 3 months of age with or without fever (Asher and …show more content…
Castledine (2006) advises that this method should not be used on patients who have ear complaints. The tympanic route records the temperature of the tympanic membrane which reflects that of the core body temperature (Gormley-Fleming, 2006). It was important that I maintained professionalism through my knowledge of the correct use and limitations of medical devices and equipment (NMC, 2010). Due to the nature of Kay’s illness, I did not consider oral and rectal routes as putting the thermometer in his mouth or rectum would make him traumatised and there was tendency for him to vomit or open his bowel (Engel, 2006). Moreover, nurses do not routinely use the rectal route (RCN,