TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: The Pop-Up Medical Thermometer
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The pop-up medical thermometer is inserted into the skin or into existing body apertures. The inner cylinder pops up when the patient's fever subsides, indicating that it is time for the patient to go home. The technology was originally developed for the poultry industry.
Long-term nursing facilities have been wanting a cheap, simple way to tell when a patient is healthy enough to discharge. Because of staffing inadequacies, slow-recovering patients are sometimes kept in bed for days or weeks longer than necessary. The new thermometer, which can be manufactured in bulk for less than $100 per unit, could save hundreds of millions of dollars annually in unnecessary medical expenses.
When implanted cutaneously in the belly, the pop-up thermometer can occasionally cause infections. The problem does not arise when the device is used rectally
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2003 Annals
of Improbable Research (AIR)
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