Mothers Vs. Thermometers: Who's Better?
Most health professionals believe that the only accurate way to test whether a child has a fever is to use a thermometer. However, a current study offers some evidence that seems to challenge that view. Researchers at two Chicago, IL, emergency departments invited mothers of children up to age 10 years to answer several questions about their child's temperature, and then a nurse took the child's temperature.
Of 322 mothers surveyed, 99% reported that they could accurately detect a fever at home without the use of a thermometer (usually by feeling the child's forehead). After the authors compared mothers' assessments of their children's fever with actual temperature measurements, they found that if a mother said her child had a fever, there was a 68% chance that she was correct, and if she said her child didn't have a fever, there was an 88% chance of her being correct. (Graneto JW & Soglin DF: Pediatric Emergency Care, June, 1996, pp. 183-184)
COMMENT. This isn't the first study to suggest that mothers aren't bad at predicting their child's fever. All this may suggest that mothers know their children, and their children's health status, better than many would believe.
Still, it is important to keep in mind that even in this study, mothers were far from being as accurate as thermometers. In addition, the study didn't consider how high the child's fever might be before it becomes detectable by mothers. Particularly in young infants, small increases in temperature may be important, but may not be recognized by a mother's touch. Though this report indicates that mothers may be reasonably accurate in detecting a fever in their child, these assessments are not terribly accurate and are not a substitute for objective measurements.
© October 1996 Child Health Alert
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