Intravenous fluid temperature management by infrared thermometer

Background The management of intravenous (IV) fluid temperature is a daily challenge in critical care, anesthesiology, and emergency medicine. Infusion of IV fluids at the right temperature partly influences clinical outcomes of critically ill patients. Nowadays, intravenous fluid temperature is poorly managed, as no suitable device is routinely available. Infrared (IR) thermometers have been recently developed for industrial, personal, or medical purposes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of an IR thermometer in measuring temperature of warmed and cooled infusion fluids in fluid bags. Methods This study compared temperatures simultaneously recorded by an infrared thermometer and a temperature sensor. Temperatures of warmed (41°C) and cooled (4°C) infusion fluids in fluid bags were recorded by 2 independent operators every minute until IV bagsʹ temperature reached ambient temperature. Results The relation curve was established with 576 measures. Temperature measures performed with an IR thermometer were perfectly linear and perfectly correlated with the reference method (R2 = 0.995, P < 10−5). Conclusion Infrared thermometers are efficient to measure IV fluid bag temperature in the range of temperatures used in clinical practice. As these devices are easy to use and inexpensive, they could be largely used in critical care, anesthesiology, or emergency medicine.