1 The Robert Wood Johnson Clinical, Scholars Program, UNC School of Medicine, 5034 Old Clinic Building, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7105
In Reply.
We thank Dr Weiss for his insightful comments regarding the controversial issue of a "gold standard" in temperature assessment. However, the purpose of our paper was not to define a gold standard, nor to judge the acceptability of conventional methods of temperature assessment. Rather, we attempted to place a new technology in perspective with currently accepted methods. While Dr Weiss raises some important points about the adequacy of rectal, oral, or axillary temperatures, we feel our work provides useful "clinical" information for practitioners who struggle to decide between methods of temperature assessment.