Measuring fluctuations in body temperature is one of the core tests for diagnosing a range of medical issues. For a long time, this was performed through clinical thermometers that had to physically come into contact with the patient either rectally, under the tongue or beneath the armpit. While these methods worked for a long time, today we have a better, safer alternative.
No-touch infra-red thermometers work by focusing infra-red light from the patient and collecting it into a thermopile, allowing doctors to accurately read the temperature without ever coming into physical contact with them. To help understand the difference from conventional devices, here are 5 benefits of using no-touch infra-red thermometers in healthcare:
What are the advantages of no-touch infra-red thermometers in healthcare?
- High degree of accuracy. Infra-red thermometers work not by coming into contact with the skin but by reading the infra-red energy that is emitted by the human body. The thermometer collects the energy in a thermopile, which heats up and produces electricity. The more electricity, the higher the temperature. This method is a highly accurate way of reading temperature and diagnosing fever.
- Faster temperature readings. While other methods require patients to wait for contact thermometers to heat up, sometimes taking a minute or two, no-touch infra-red thermometers provide a reading within seconds. This makes it extremely efficient at screening patients and means that dozens of people can be screened per minute, making it the perfect tool for a busy ward or infectious disease unit. This makes it the preferred method of taking a temperature, allowing healthcare practitioners to save their focus and energy for helping their patients.
- No contact required. One of the key advantages of the no-touch infra-red thermometer is that it can be used anywhere between thirty to sixty centimeters from the forehead, without coming into contact with the patient. This makes the infra-red thermometer completely non-invasive. This is particularly important for patients that need to have their temperature measured regularly, meaning that it can be done without disturbing them, even while they are resting. It is also useful for babies, children or elderly patients who may struggle to wait for a contact thermometer to do its job.
- Safer to use. Due to its non-contact nature infra-red thermometers are much safer to use than other methods. By eliminating the need to come into contact with the patient, the doctor can minimise the potential for pathogens to be spread through physical touch. This means that both the patient and the doctor are protected from the spread of pathogens through saliva, mucus or infected materials.
- Efficient and inexpensive. Non-contact infra-red thermometers are slightly more expensive than contact thermometers but they are also much more efficient. This means that they can be used a lot more broadly, across dozens of patients, meaning that a single unit is often enough for an entire hospital ward.