Neonatal Skin Temperature
The goal of neonatal thermal management is to establish an environ- ment of thermoneutrality in which the metabolic heat production re- quirement is minimal. Perlstein14 indicates that both the core and sur- face temperature of the neonate are required to quantify the rate of heat loss. The greater the difference between core and surface tem- peratures, the greater the heat loss from the infant. (This holds only if vasomotor activity is absent, as is the case for a neonate.) A typical surface temperature for minimum heat loss is indicated as
Conventional thermal sensor systems are sensitive to the thermal con- tact resistance between the surface of the patient and the surface mounted device. A large thermal resistance will result in inaccurate surface temperature readings, tending to be on the low side of the ac- tual surface temperature. This technique requires time for the sensor to equilibrate and great care in the surface mounting methodology for accurate measurements. As a consequence, conventional surface detectors are usually used to monitor one location on the neonate and multiple site readings are rarely taken.
Infrared thermometry provides a method for accurate surface temperature mea- surements on multiple skin surface loca- tions. The infrared technology has a short
ity of rapid and accurate
Wound Management
Increased skin temperature has long been associated with infection, thus measuring the changes in skin temperature in the area of incision or trauma when compared to the surrounding tissue provide the neces- sary quantifiable information for early recognition of such infections, well before the process has caused any visible skin changes.
Temperature measurement is especially useful for early diagnosis of postoperative wound infections1 , those at the IV site, and decubitus ulcers, for example, and provides for routine quantification of the infec- tion and subsequent monitoring of the healing process in an objective manner by the clinical staff.
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