[Comparative measurements of oral and rectal temperatures in 224 hospitalized patients]

We made a simultaneous measurement of oral temperature with an electronic thermometer and rectal temperature with a glass mercury thermometer in 224 in-patients. The results show that the difference between oral and rectal temperature is unpredictable and often important especially when the patient is febrile. It is impossible to determine a correction factor of the oral temperature which would allow a more sensitive and specific detection of patients with fever.