Body temperature (shorthand Temp) is measured by a thermometer.
Pathophysiology
It depends on a number of factors, including:
Location of measurement, typically from highest to lowest, being internal (rectal, vaginal), oral, and then skin. Typical internal temperature (gold standard to measure core temperature) is 37° C, or slightly cooler at 36.8 °C ± 0.4 °C
Time of day, varying during the day by about 0.5 °C, with temperatures lower in the morning, and higher in the afternoon/evenings. Body temperature also tends to be lowest in the 2nd half of the sleep cycle
Activity level of Pt
Hunger
Sleepiness
Cold
Classifications
Hypothermia, is <35 °C
Normal, is 37 ± 0.5 °C
Fever and Hyperthermia, is >37.5 °C. The difference between Fever and Hyperthermia is whereas Fever is an increase in the temperature setpoint that the body attempts to maintain, Hyperthermia is the production/absorption of more heat than it can dissapate.
Hyperpyrexia, is >40 °C
Ix
Thermometers, to take a patient's temperature, in various sites, including:
Rectal, in the anus
Oral, in the mouth
Axillary, under teh arm
Tympanic, in the ear
Vaginal, in the vagina
In the bladder
On the skin of the forehead over the temporal artery
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