Words of Wisdom from the Nurse: You should NEVER take a rectal temperature on an infant less than 6 months of age. This is the number one rule I learned in my NICU training. Why? If you look at the photo below (and weve all seen it), to obtain a proper temperature, the entire probe needs to be inserted with the tip in about two inches. Anatomically, infants have a sharp turn or hook in their little rectums about 0.5-1.5 inches inside their body. This sharp turn straightens out at about 4 months of age. If a thermometer is inserted as it is supposed to, and perforates the bowel, the child has a 40% mortality rate. As a nurse, I never want to explain to parents that their child died because I took a rectal temperature. But in the ER, a rectal temperature is the Golden Standard and physicians will even order to have it done. What do I do? First, I try to educate the physician and explain that on children under 6 months of age, an axillary temperature is completely accurate and a rectal temperature is not only unnecessary, its dangerous. If that doesnt work, I ask a colleague to do it. If I cant find a colleague willing to do it (since Ive educated most of them in regards to this), then if the physician wants it so bad, he/she can do it. And of course, all of this gets documented.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:47:08 +0000
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