A clinical thermometer belongs in every household medicine cabinet. However, the selection today is so large that a purchase cannot be made without advice. Following a brief "history of the clinical thermometer," we will show you in this article which types of this measuring device exist today and what the respective advantages and disadvantages are.
A clinical thermometer is, as the name suggests, a device for measuring body temperature, which has a measuring range between 35 °C and 42 °C. It is generally needed whenever an illness has already broken out and the condition of the patient needs to be monitored, or when there is a suspicion of an impending illness that can either be confirmed or falsified by measuring body temperature.
The days when grandmother used to measure body temperature with great skill and experience by placing her hand on the forehead are obviously long gone. And even in the case of a manifest illness – if we may venture this hypothesis – very few of us today would likely be able to detect a fever by placing a hand on the forehead. However, this loss of intuition need not worry us, as certain clever people have created certain technical aids with which we can compensate for it.
The different types of clinical thermometers
The first clinical thermometers were still quite unwieldy and inaccurate and were invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit at the beginning of the 18th century. The modern analog clinical thermometer in its closed form was developed decades later by the druggist Wilhelm Uebe, while Thomas Clifford Allbutt had previously invented the short form of the thermometer known today in 1867. These thermometers were so-called "expansion thermometers," which were formerly filled with mercury that expanded in a very thin capillary and could indicate the maximum temperature. In 2009, however, mercury clinical thermometers were banned in the EU due to their hazardous nature and the disposal problems associated with them.
The most common types of fever measurement today are the digital clinical thermometer, the infrared thermometer, and the rapid fever test. The digital thermometer has an LCD display and measures the temperature through the change in electrical resistance resulting from the temperature change. It can be used orally, axially, or rectally, with rectal use considered the most accurate. The infrared thermometer, on the other hand, measures the infrared radiation emitted from the forehead or the eardrum or earlobe. It allows for non-contact measurement. Far removed from any electronics, by contrast, is the rapid fever test. Here, a special strip is stuck to the forehead. After removal, it indicates by a certain color shade whether you have a fever or not.
Pay attention to quality when choosing a clinical thermometer
Not all clinical thermometers are accurate. In this respect, you should take care when choosing not to buy just any model, but to inform yourself beforehand about recommended models and thermometer types. High-quality products are, for example, the clinical thermometers from Medisana. Here you will also find modern Bluetooth thermometers with an alarm function that send the measurement data in real-time to a smartphone app and thus allow for seamless monitoring of body temperature.
Image source medisana.de
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