A5V4d

Feverish illness in children
Tympanic measurements
Tympanic measurements can be provided by infrared sensing thermometers only, so there is no
comparative analysis by different types of thermometer, only by the least and most expensive type of
infrared sensing model. The total cost of using exclusively the least costly model and the most
expensive model of infrared sensing thermometer was calculated (Table 11.4).
Table 11.4 shows that the lowest purchase price model (the infrared sensing thermometer) has a
higher overall cost than the highest priced thermometer because of the increased cost of consumables
(nearly double the price) which contribute to the total cost. The cost of covers is lower in the
most expensive model. The recurring costs per year (consumables and staff) are more than £50,000
more per year for the cheaper model, which outweighs the higher initial purchase price of the most
expensive model. The results also indicate that time to reading is not an important cost driver for
tympanic measurement since the assumption is that it takes only 2 seconds to make a temperature
reading. The (discounted) cost over 10 years including staff costs is in the range £732,000 to
£1,064,000, which is the same order of magnitude of costs as the thermometers used for axilla
measurement, except that of the single-use chemical thermometer.
Table 11.4 Ten-year costs for infrared sensing thermometers, discounted at 3.5%: summary results for tympanic
measurements – minimum and maximum prices
248
Model of infrared sensing thermometer (tympanic)
TB-100 (thermo Buddy) First Temp. Genius
Purchase cost £18.32 £249.49
Supply of thermometers One per ward One per ward
Price of consumable items and ongoing costs (per item)
Probe covers £0.0760 £0.047
Battery life (readings) 6000 5000
Cost of batteries £0.68 £0.950
Cost of cleaning (alcohol wipes) £0.008
Annual cost of consumables and ongoing costs calculated using the assumptions stated in Table 11.1
Initial purchase cost £8,244 £112,271
Number of batteries/year 258 310
Cost of batteries/year £176 £295
Cost of alcohol wipes/year £12,400
Cost of covers/year £117,800 £72,850
Total cost consumables £130,376 £73,145
Time to reading (seconds) 2 2
Hours on reading/year 861 861
Annual staff costs £18,944 £18,944
Recurring costs per year
(consumables, replacement, staff)
Recurring costs per year
(consumables and replacement)
Total undiscounted 10-year cost
(with staff costs)
£149,320 £92,089
£130,376 £73,145
£1,501,445 £1,033,160
Discounted at 3.5% £1,064,403 £732,427