The Role of Nurses in the Usage and Modernisation of the Patient Thermometer
This section explores the changes made not only to nursing by the relegation of temperature taking but also the innovations nurses made in developing modern clinical thermometry.
Nurses and Thermometers
Nursing evolved from the helping hand of the physician to the hands-on aide in the late 1800’s starting with the enlargement of the nursing field in the 1870’s. This evolution came in waves.
The first usage of thermometers by nurses was only under the order of physicians.
The second evolutions occurred when nurses were expected to record all patients’ temperatures and report them to the doctor daily.
The third wave that convinced with the turning of the century was the near complete relegation of temperature taking, recording, and analysing.
The thermometer from this point onward was marketed as being synonymous with the nurse as there began to be dedicated thermometer ward nurse positions. By the 1920’s thermometers were marketed as an appropriate gift for graduating nurses. The relationship between the two leads easily into the innovations of safety and usage.
The Nurse did not merely take the temperature; she used the thermometer to diagnose, monitor, and re-diagnose patient conditions
Exert from Enduring Issues in American Nursing
Safety
Working with Glass and Mercury
The glass mercury filled thermometers that were a staple from the mid-1800’s until the late 1900’s were dangerous. The glass could be broken if dropped or while attempting to record a patient’s temperature, possibly injuring the patient.
Nurses therefore developed safe work strategies in order to prevent incidents from happening. These safe work guidelines were included in many Nursing textbooks in the early 1900’s and evolved as the field of nursing and medicine evolved as well.
Sanitation
Keeping Thermometers Clean
In the early years of thermometer usage, there was generally one thermometer shared among all the patients of the ward. As germ theory progressed, sanitation became a point of focus. The ward thermometer was then replaced with individual thermometers that were placed on the patient’s bedside table into a small container of sanitising liquid (see picture).
Eventually sanitation guidelines were published in nursing manuals where they outlined the need to wash the thermometer after every use. Nursing manuals and research conducted by nurses themselves led to a push for standardization of sanitation, an aspect now fully engrained I modern medicine.