Epidemiological study of a body temperature in patients in a teaching hospital

Abstract

The things that happened after World War II caused radical changes in our economical and social structure. Advances in technology, better methods in communication and scientific discoveries, such as antibiotic therapy, had recupercussion in all environments and specifically in the health system. The lack of professional nurses in our country has been a serious hindrance in reaching the broader objectives of the profession. The tasks of nursing care are related to a traditional structure; worried more about treatment than prevention and rehabilitation. The nursing care is orientated by the distribution of functional work. This method may be efficient and economical, but according to Sjorberg, Heieren and Jackson (1971), it destroys the continuity of care and encourages the nurse to focus her attention on the task instead of the patient. Angerami (1973), in a previous study, concluded that the traditional routine of measuring body temperature does not meet the patient’s individual needs and his circadian rhythmicity. This uses an excess of human and material resources in nonproductive work. Besides this, there is the fact that many of the data collected were inaccurate; therefore, new standards must be studied and tested. Various suggestions came from the literature. De Risi (1968) recommends taking temperatures at 2 a.m., 6 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., emphasizing that 6 p.m. is the peak time. Schimidt (1972) suggests taking the temperature three times a day in special cases, but in other patients, once a day. Poole (1971) and Soo (1972) raise the hypothesis that the physician should prescribe the measurement of vital signs or the need of such information. Sims (1972) confirmed that it did not harm the patient to take the temperature three times a day-at 7 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m .-obtaining, with this, a saving of nursing time. Moorat (1976), doing research in the cost of measuring temperature, studied the material problem using mercury, disposable and electronic thermometers. He concluded the electronic thermometer provided the most exact information in the least time. The accuracy of the information given by the electronic thermometer is pointed out by Tate, Gohrke and Mansfield (1970) and Knapp (1966), while Diamond and Andrews (1954) condemn the mercury thermometer for its inaccuracy and recommend its substitution by the