Body temperature assessment devices in critical patients in intensive care: from evidence to clinical practice

Introduction: Accurate assessment of body temperature is essential for clinical decision-making in the care of critically ill patients, and requires careful selection of measurement devices based on scientific and technical evidence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of different devices for measuring body temperature in critically ill patients, and to determine the accuracy of four non-invasive devices compared to the esophageal thermometer, which is considered the gold standard. Materials and Methods: A quantitative, descriptive-correlational study was carried out on patients admitted to the intensive care unit of a Portuguese hospital. Five devices were used to assess body temperature at each time point: esophageal, axillary, frontal, groin skin and tympanic thermometers. The study was submitted to and approved by the hospital’s Ethics Committee. Results: 65 body temperature assessments were carried out on a sample of 30 patients. Each patient underwent two or three measurements. Differences in sensitivity were observed between the five body temperature measuring devices. However, there mean temperatures obtained in the groin skin and the frontal region did not differ statistically significantly from the mean esophageal temperatures. Conclusion: The esophageal thermometer proved to be accurate in the continuous assessment of core temperature, confirming data previously described in the literature. On the other hand, peripheral temperature thermometers were less accurate and sensitive than the esophageal thermometer. However, it is essential to understand the causes of these differences and explore the implications for clinical practice.