Behavioral Aspects of Temperature-Taking

Ear thermometry addresses two basic psychological aspects of fevers. The first one is obvious: the battle of the rectal temperature can be eliminated by ear thermometry. The second one addresses the overtreatment of tactile fevers. Tactile temperature taken by feeling the forehead occurs in 50% to 90% of homes. Half of warm foreheads occur in afebrile children who are warm because they're releasing heat generated by a recent activity or bath. If an actual temperature were measured, these children wouldn't be mislabeled as having fever and unnecessarily treated.