clinical thermometers

[Cuishie]

Hello fellow labbies out there in labbie land,
We don't use our clinical thermometers much and the teacher who just borrowed them noticed that a couple of them seen to be "stuck" (his word not mine) at over 42 and some seem to sit on 36.5, some on 37. What is the go!!! Is there a particular temp they should sit at and if so how do I fix the others that are not there, particularly the ones at over 42?
Hope you clever labbies out there can be of some help!!!

Cuishie

[lada]

Our mercury clinical thermometers need to be "shaken" down to below 36oC and body temp will bring the column of Hg up.
Is that what you wanted to know??
lada

[lada]

OH and if that doesn't work, turf them
Lada

[ellice]

As an alternative, use forehead strips.

[sunray18]

We have two digital thermometers with lasers... you just point them at the object and they give you the temperature. The laser light lets you know exactly what you are pointing at - but you can turn that function off if need be.. they work really well...

[Didee]

All mercury clinical thermometer need to be shaken down after each use to below 36 degrees. When I was nursing the students always had to do this we ended up with very sore wrists as you have to really flick them.
Diana

[Cuishie]

Now you have all said about flicking the mercury down I am thinking "DUH" . Thank you all for your input and I will give this a go, and any that won't do this I will turf. Thanks once again for this wonderful forum.

[Lyn]

Don't forget that turfing them means saving them for the next hazardous waste disposal. Mercury disposal is a pain in the butt. Our hazardous waste collection last year disposed of over five kilos of mercury and also included broken thermometers and plastic tubing which had been contaminated with mercury. The large quantity of mercury was compliments of the brewery which closed down years ago. I was glad to see it gone.
Lyn.

[smiley]

We use the little digital thermometers. They're not that expensive, and you can buy little plastic bizzos that go over the ends so that you don't have to wash them in between students.