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Accuracy of Tympanic Temperature Measurement in Firefighters Completing a Simulated Structural Firefighting Task

Overview of attention for article published in Prehospital and disaster medicine, September 2015
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (66th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (66th percentile)

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Title
Accuracy of Tympanic Temperature Measurement in Firefighters Completing a Simulated Structural Firefighting Task
Published in
Prehospital and disaster medicine, September 2015
DOI 10.1017/s1049023x15005038
Pubmed ID
Authors

Toby Keene, Matt Brearley, Beth Bowen, Anthony Walker

Abstract

Introduction In the course of their duties, firefighters risk heat stroke and other medical conditions due to exertion in high-temperature environments. Infrared tympanic temperature measurement (TTym) is often used by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to assess the core body temperature of firefighters. The accuracy of TTym in this setting has been called into question. Hypothesis/Problem This study aimed to examine the accuracy of TTym for core body temperature assessment at emergency firefighting events compared with gastrointestinal temperature measurement (TGI) as measured by ingestible thermometers. Forty-five (42 male, three female) professional urban firefighters from an Australian fire service completed two 20-minute work periods in a 100°C (± 5°C) heat chamber while wearing personal protective clothing (PPC) and breathing apparatus (weighing approximately 22 kg). Measurements were taken immediately before entering, and on exiting, the heat chamber. Tympanic temperature was assessed by an infrared tympanic thermometer and TGI was measured by ingestible sensor and radio receiver. Complete data were available for 37 participants. Participant temperatures were higher on exiting the heat chamber than at baseline (TTym: 35.9°C (SD=0.7) vs 37.5°C (SD=0.8); TGI: 37.2°C (SD=0.4) vs 38.6°C (SD=0.5)). Tympanic temperature underestimated TGI on average by 1.3°C (SD=0.5) before entering the chamber and by 1.0°C (SD=0.8) following the exercise. Using pooled data, the average underestimation was 1.2°C (SD=0.7). Tympanic thermometers cause an unreliable measure of core body temperature for firefighters engaged in fire suppression activities. Accurate and practical measures of core body temperature are required urgently. Keene T , Brearley M , Bowen B , Walker A . Accuracy of tympanic temperature measurement in firefighters completing a simulated structural firefighting task. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(5):461-465.

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The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 55 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 55 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 8 15%
Researcher 7 13%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 11%
Student > Master 5 9%
Lecturer 2 4%
Other 11 20%
Unknown 16 29%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 8 15%
Medicine and Dentistry 7 13%
Sports and Recreations 4 7%
Engineering 3 5%
Social Sciences 3 5%
Other 13 24%
Unknown 17 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 October 2015.
All research outputs
#8,426,836
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from Prehospital and disaster medicine
#630
of 1,599 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#93,631
of 276,791 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Prehospital and disaster medicine
#8
of 24 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,647 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 66th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,599 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 59% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 276,791 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 24 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.