Crazy thermometers & errors

[LuvOrlando]

Anyone else ever have brand new digital thermometers go bezerk and report random temps? After days it gave an error message but now I'm wondering if the low temps we got when DD first got sick last Saturday were even remotely accurate. She was sick, got Plaxlovid & got better, a bunch of days negative then symptoms back & positive yesterday and the second brand new thermometer went bezerk too, was saying 108 outside her mouth then 97 then 103. Thank goodness she is an adult and tested it on cold things and noticed, so now 2 days trying to get a new one and off to pick up new ones in stoick I finally located with a different brand & contemplating the old kind which were annoyingly slow but never went bezerk. Do I need this now, no I do not

 

[Lumpy1106]

I had to laugh when, during the peak of COVID restrictions, the summer camp DD went to required the kids to be temperature screened. The counselors (really just kids themselves) had no idea what they were doing except to know that the kids could not be admitted if they were over 100. They'd scan DD and write down 90-93 degrees a lot. It's under 100 though - GOOD TO GO!

 

[kdonnel]

I listened to a podcast that talked about how race and medical devices work, specifically covered pulse oximeter and mentioned forehead thermometers.

I had never thought about how skin color can change the accuracy of what is considered an essential medical device.

Covid highlighted how inaccurate both devices can be for people with darker skin. The inaccuracy of pulse oximeters in particular caused a number of covid deaths because oxygen was not called for in black patients due to inaccurate readings.

There are calls to adjust the certification requirements of medical devices to better account for skin color but will probably take years to implement.

https://www.health.com/news/forehea...26% less,to incorrect diagnoses or treatments.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2029240?cookieSet=1

 

[DLgal]

97 is a common temperature reading when someone has a viral illness. But the real issue is the inconsistency. I've never had a digital thermometer do that.

We use an Exergen temporal thermometer and a Vicks Digital one under the tongue. Both have been very accurate for recent illnesses.

 

[LuvOrlando]

97 is a common temperature reading when someone has a viral illness. But the real issue is the inconsistency. I've never had a digital thermometer do that.

We use an Exergen temporal thermometer and a Vicks Digital one under the tongue. Both have been very accurate for recent illnesses.

I never in my life heard of such a thing either, the first one I thought that maybe it was just old and got damaged somehow like too much alcohol got into the mechanism, I didn't hand it to her last Saturday so I didn't know it was new out of the package, I just assumed it was older. When she got the second one out of the package and complained again I asked more questions. She said every time she hit the button it spit out another random number sort of in sick range. Since she didn't feel like she had a very high temp she just kept testing it & eventually it gave an error message but if she hadn't been persistent she wouldn't have caught it. These were Equate so maybe we just got a bad batch, I tend to buy stuff like this in bulk in early fall so we have one of everything for every family member when this time of year rolls around. I'm super grateful DD stumbled across the problem not me because she is super attentive to things like this and I am not, so I would have totally taken it at face value so I am annoyed.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I listened to a podcast that talked about how race and medical devices work, specifically covered pulse oximeter and mentioned forehead thermometers.

I had never thought about how skin color can change the accuracy of what is considered an essential medical device.

Covid highlighted how inaccurate both devices can be for people with darker skin. The inaccuracy of pulse oximeters in particular caused a number of covid deaths because oxygen was not called for in black patients due to inaccurate readings.

There are calls to adjust the certification requirements of medical devices to better account for skin color but will probably take years to implement.

https://www.health.com/news/forehead-thermometers-less-accurate-black-patients#:~:text=Forehead thermometers were 26% less,to incorrect diagnoses or treatments.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2029240?cookieSet=1

This makes perfect sense, I never thought of it but it makes perfect sense.

My second thought, though, is how horrible it is that this correction wasn't made by simple diversity in the testing, talk about institutional bias, just wow. If it can be corrected by a simple flip adjustment for skin tone that should happen immediately, years is absurd.

 

[Mango7100]

The Exergen temporal is what we have and has pretty good accuracy. We have been using it a lot this weekend since I have covid. Again. At least it’s pretty minor cold symptoms so far