Checking temp 'to touch.' What part of your hand do you use?

[Just Plain Ruff]

Yes, I eat out at restaurants, but I always ask my waitress to palm my plate, and not touch the top. And to your other question, I do not have sex with strangers. I am not a germophobe like Monk, but you have to know that the human hand is the nastiest thing on this planet.

Actually you kind of are a germophobe if you go to the lengths you do to keep hands off of places that they shouldn't go.

But I admire your perseverence.

I can say I'm not nearly as cautious as you and I have never had a serious illness nor have I had a cold this year

Edited December 29, 2011 by Captain Kickass

[DFIB]

Yes, I eat out at restaurants, but I always ask my waitress to palm my plate, and not touch the top. I am not a germophobe like Monk, but you have to know that the human hand is the nastiest thing on this planet.

On a cold November morning the elderly waitress at the local greasy spoon brings soup out to a customer. Noticing her thumb is in the soup the customer complains to which the waitress replies. “Oh, I have arthritis and slipping my thumb in the soup helps with the pain on these cold mornings” Offended by her nonchalance the patron responds “Why don’t you take your thumb and stick it your butt instead” “Oh, I do that while I’m in the kitchen”

I am careful about BSI and keep up on my shots, but having grown up in the third world I have a Immune system that has been tempered in feces, human and animal. I had a microbiology teacher in the 80's that said "If feces were florecent the third world would not require public lighting, Every surface would glow in the dark". I guess I know there are people that are really careful about human contact but as a farm boy I simply don’t get it.

I bet you would freak if you had to dig a clogged septic line or muck out behind the hogs.

Edited December 29, 2011 by DFIB

[Eydawn]

It's rather subjective all around here. You're performing a subjective assessment of relative temperature on your patient, so I would think that the method utilized doesn't matter a heck of a lot. I do know that I can differentiate a skin-to-skin temperature difference much better with the inner or outer surface of my wrist as opposed to fingers (yes, I check with both usually...) so I usually go with the observation I get from the wrist sensory input...

Would I initiate active warming or cooling based solely on patient's subjective skin temp? No... but I certainly would in absence of an absolute measurement if other symptoms indicated otherwise. Ya know... lack of sweating, diminished interaction, hx of loss of consciousness in the heat altered individual (I actually did some standby at a trail marathon back in October... 80 degree day... and had one collapse on me at the finish line... boy, was he a mess! His skin actually felt cool, because he'd had some water dumped on him about 300 yards back, but he was waaaay overheated. Ice pack to the back of the neck and armpits, cool water to drink, and a full assessment by the local EMS folks on standby with me and he was good to go about 30 minutes later...)

As far as hypothermia goes, evidence of exposure, diminished interaction/confusion, violent shivering or shivering that ceases... they're getting warm nuggets wherever I can get them stuffed and wrapped up in a nice sleeping bag burrito... I've done this many times doing Boy Scout standby. Did I always have access to a thermometer? LOL! No. Did I know they needed active rewarming? Yep.

So, I guess the long winded answer, Dwayne, is to each their own. I do a comparison with fingertips and back/inner wrist, so if you like your fingers, put 'em to good use... ;-)

(I wouldn't be using them as an internal probe... we're talking just superficial here... *sarcasm sludge slips off the words...*)

Wendy

CO EMT-B