Cutaneous Infrared Thermometry for Detecting Febrile Patients

Abstract

We assessed the accuracy of cutaneous infrared thermometry, which measures temperature on the forehead, for detecting patients with fever in patients admitted to an emergency department. Although negative predictive value was excellent (0.99), positive predictive value was low (0.10). Therefore, we question mass detection of febrile patients by using this method.

Keywords

• Fever
• mass detection
• cutaneous infrared thermometry
• infectious diseases
• emergency
• dispatch