Heatwaves and hospital staff: Taking the temperatures may be important

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7565.448

BMJ 2006;333:448 (26 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7565.448

Letter

Heatwaves and hospital staff

Taking the temperatures may be important

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—We read with interest Kovats's review of the impactof the recent heat wave on public health.¹ We noticed severalpatients on the general surgical ward during this period withfevers up to 38°C but normal inflammatory markers. Thisled us to investigate the temperatures of the staff in the hospital.

We assessed the tympanic temperature, using the Kendall Geniusfirst temp tympanic thermometer, of 21 members of staff at 830pm on 19 July 2006, the end of the hottest day in north Wales.A few weeks later on a cold day, temperatures were taken atthe same time of day from 10 further staff members. Out of the21 temperatures recorded on the hot day, only four were normal(below 37°C). The mean temperature was 37.33°C and themaximum temperature was 37.9°C. Among the temperatures recordedon the cooler day, the mean temperature was 36.36°C and. . . [Full text of this article]