- Patients who have had a fever in the ambulance did not have it in the emergency room when they measured with these thermometers, says Torbjörn Lingemyr, who is quality manager at Medical Technology in Region Dalarna.
The thermometers have on average shown 0.8 degrees too little according to a survey carried out by the staff themselves.
According to Lingemyr, the accuracy, and what you can expect, on thermometers is plus/minus 0.2 degrees.
- Based on that, it is quite a lot and what becomes critical are the patients who have a low fever and then end up on the wrong side of the line.
Academic Hospital has also reported
The ear thermometer is used in several regions and Region Uppsala has also reported errors with it.
It began to be introduced in March 2023 in Dalarna.
In total, there are roughly 1,500 thermometers in Region Dalarna.
So far, there are 122 of the kind that have now been notified to the Medical Products Agency.
- We have followed our routines and the authorities' rules in terms of writing deviations and reporting to the Medical Products Agency and the supplier.
Now we expect a response from the supplier regarding appropriate measures, says Torbjörn Lingemyr.
Other ways to measure temperature
The thermometer is still used in the business.
- If there is a problem, there are other ways to measure temperature.
It is not just thrown out when there is a procurement and contract, the manufacturer must be given the chance to respond and take action first.