The Ability of Mothers to Read a Thermometer

The ability of 100 mothers in a suburban private pediatric practice and 100 mothers in an urban hospital-based practice to read a mercury glass thermometer accurately was assessed. Ninety-three percent of suburban practice parents could read three pre-set thermometers correctly, but only 10% of urban practice parents could perform the same task. Education level only partially explained the inability of most urban parents to read successfully. Because certain clinical situations require accurate fever assessment at home, simplified methods of fever assessment should be considered in populations with low competence in reading a thermometer by traditional methods.