Temperature Taking

I am on orientation in a Level 3 NICU in a large children's hospital. I have been a NICU nurse for 4 years and this is the 3rd Level 3 NICU I am working in. I understand that every hospital has its own policies and procedures but at my new place they don't take temps with thermometers. They place a probe in the babies armpit and secure it with duoderm. The probe is attached to the monitor so you can see the temp along HR, RR etc. They don't even have thermometers on the unit if you want to verify that the temp is accurate. Is anyone else doing this?

I can understand utilizing a temp probe to take "hands-off" vs on minimal stim babies, but it seems lax not to have thermometers available to verify changes in babies' temps. Also, unless recommended by the manufacturer, I don't think the armpit is the ideal place to put a temp probe.

we use temp probes AND thermometers....I find that there is usually the ability to correlate the temps (within .2-.3), however, they differ depending on where the probe is located on the baby and how the baby is positioned. I can't see us ever giving up actual thermometers. We do, however, limit the axillary checks in min stim babies to once every 4-6 hours or even less if warranted. These babies are usually in Radiant warmers anyway, and are usually not being repositioned, etc.

Jamie

Its good to monitor temps with the ICS probe but I would never be comfortable relying on them altogether. You need thermometers to verify the accuracy as so many factors can interfere with the probe. I have a love/hate relationship with temp probes and know for a fact they are not always accurate.