Comparison of the use of liquid crystal thermometers with glass mercury thermometers in febrile children in a children's ward at Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea.

We compared the temperatures recorded, in febrile children admitted to a children's ward at Port Moresby General Hospital, by a doctor and by a group of nurses using glass mercury thermometers (GMT) and liquid crystal thermometers (LCT, Nextemp and Traxit. The mean difference (with 95% confidence intervals) in temperatures between GMT and Nextemp were -0.12 degrees C (-0.16 degrees C to -0.08 degrees C) for the doctor and 0.12 degrees C (0.04-0.20 degrees C) for nurses. The mean difference in temperatures between GMT and Traxit were -0.05 degrees C (-0.09 degrees C to -0.01 degrees C) for the doctor and 0.19 degrees C (0.10-0.28 degrees C) for the nurses. A similar result was obtained when one of the Nextemp thermometers used in the initial study was compared with GMT on a small sample of patients by the doctor 8 months later. Limited evaluation showed nursing staff were in favour of using the LCTs. Nextemp and Traxit thermometers can be used interchangeably with GMT in this setting.