ASSESSMENT OF BODY TEMPERATURE BY VARIOUS NON-INVASIVE METHODS IN PATIENTS AT INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Sa？etak Introduction: Body temperature is an important vital sign that gives insight into a patient's medical condition. In the intensive care unit, temperature measurement is a standardized procedure that is performed several times a day and is one of the basic parameters of patient monitoring. The aim: Was to examine whether there is a difference in the measured body temperature values depending on the mode of measurement of three non-invasive temperature measurement procedures. The body temperature was measured by an axilla alcohol thermometer on a tympanic membrane and by a sensor thermometer, which was attached to the skin by using an adhesive patch and conducted 24-hour body temperature monitoring. The specific objectives of this study were to examine whether the temperature measured by means of all three measurement methods used was influenced by the following: length of in-hospital stay, patient diet, covering a patient’s body with a sheet, temperature measurement time, as well as whether patients were receiving mechanical ventilation, and whether they were surgical or non-surgical patients. Subjects and methods: The study included 124 adults of both genders, aged 18 and over, who were hospitalized in intensive care units of Po？ega General Hospital, and covered both surgical and non-surgical patients. Temperature measurement was carried out from 5 March 2019 to 30 April 2019. Respondents were divided into three groups. The first group consisted of 41 respondents whose temperature was measured from 8 am to 4 pm, the second group had 42 respondents whose temperature was measured from 4 pm to 10 pm, and the third group comprised 41 respondents whose temperature was measured from 10 pm to 6 am. The results: It was observed that the temperature measurement procedure on the tympani membrane was the least reliable (p = 0.000). The measurement time (WilksLambda 0.986, F = 0.658, p = 0.684) and the patient's physical condition (WilksLambda 0.987, F = 0.522, p = 0.688) had no effect on the measured temperature values. The mean temperature was influenced by hospitalization longer than 2 weeks (Wilks 'Lambda = 0.677, F = 8.560, p = 0.000), feeding on a nasogastric tube (Wilks' Lambda = 0.751, F = 6.116, p = 0.000), sheet coverage (Wilks' Lambda = 0.730, F = 14.810, p = 0.000) and the application of mechanical ventilation to all three measurement procedures. Non-surgical patients had higher mean values for all three measurement procedures. Conclusion: The study has shown that the method of measuring the temperature on the tympanic membrane is less reliable