Experience Using a Forehead Continuous Deep Temperature Monitoring System During Air Evacuation.

OBJECTIVE: The present study describes the utility of a forehead continuous deep temperature monitoring system by the staff members of a doctor helicopter (DH).

METHODS: A questionnaire survey was performed for all flight doctors who had used this system during transportation by the DH to assess its merits and demerits.

RESULTS: The major benefits of this system were its easy usability, disposable nature, low labor cost, continuous demonstration of the deep temperature in a prehospital setting, and low invasiveness. However, drawbacks of this system include its cost; need for a power supply; need for a few minutes for calibration to obtain stable results of temperature, making it impossible to verify the effects of intervention for body temperature during a short flight; and lack of a detachable measuring pad for the forehead when a patient has an injury on the face or head and hyperhidrosis. In addition, the system's attached cables may hamper medical interventions.

CONCLUSION: We reported the experience of DH staff using a forehead continuous deep temperature monitoring system in the prehospital setting. Further studies will be required to determine the indications for using such a system in the prehospital setting.