A range of 36.0 to 37.5 degrees Celsius is the currently accepted (and taught) range of normal, but as others have already said, it really varies on the individual patient, their circumstances, what they've just been doing, the time of day and where you are attempting to take the temperature (e.g. sub-lingua, axilla, ear). For example, a temperature of 37.1 might be a low grade pyrexia in the morning, but not at night, while you would expect a temperature reading from the axilla (armpit) to be lower than that from the mouth or ear.
If a patient has just walked in from a brisk, frosty morning outside, then a tympanic measurement in their ear will probably be cold, while if they wear hearing aids and have only just removed said aid, then the ear is likely to give a falsely warm reading. Similar principle to not drinking a hot drink and then taking a sub-lingual reading.
Anti-pyretic measures are usually called for between 37.5 and 38 degrees Celsius, again depending on the patient, while warming techniques such as Bair Hugger warm air blankets, are usually employed below temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius. The Safer Patient initiatve at my Trust records (and requires intervention)when any patient leaves theatre with a temperature below 36.0 degrees C.
Most important is the evaluation of what a patient's temperature is versus their usual norm. If someone usually runs at about 36 degrees C, then a post-operative or post blood transfusion temperature of 37.5 degrees C is much more clinically significant.
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A range of 36.0 to 37.5 degrees Celsius is the currently accepted (and taught) range of normal, but as others have already said, it really varies on the individual patient, their circumstances, what they've just been doing, the time of day and where you are attempting to take the temperature (e.g. sub-lingua, axilla, ear). For example, a temperature of 37.1 might be a low grade pyrexia in the morning, but not at night, while you would expect a temperature reading from the axilla (armpit) to be lower than that from the mouth or ear.
If a patient has just walked in from a brisk, frosty morning outside, then a tympanic measurement in their ear will probably be cold, while if they wear hearing aids and have only just removed said aid, then the ear is likely to give a falsely warm reading. Similar principle to not drinking a hot drink and then taking a sub-lingual reading.
Anti-pyretic measures are usually called for between 37.5 and 38 degrees Celsius, again depending on the patient, while warming techniques such as Bair Hugger warm air blankets, are usually employed below temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius. The Safer Patient initiatve at my Trust records (and requires intervention)when any patient leaves theatre with a temperature below 36.0 degrees C.
Most important is the evaluation of what a patient's temperature is versus their usual norm. If someone usually runs at about 36 degrees C, then a post-operative or post blood transfusion temperature of 37.5 degrees C is much more clinically significant.