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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find it a bit scary that my health visitor, who is also a trained nurse, didn't know how to take my babys temperature today?

28 replies

IcingOnTheCake · 12/03/2009 16:29

I took my 8 week old ds to get his jabs done today. After he was wieghed etc my health visitor noticed he felt hot. I thought he was warm but didn't think he had a temperture.

Anyway, she said she wanted to do his temperture to check he was ok then asked me if i knew what the normal temperture was? I said i think it's 37 degrees and then it took her an age to work out how to use the machine to take his temperture in his ear. She was trying to read the instructions but in the end gave up and gave me another appointment for his jabs.

Now i realise she is a health visitor now and not a nurse anymore but surely she would know what a normal body temperture is and would be able to take a temperture? Even me, who is thick when it comes to anything medical, can take a temperture.

OP posts:
LittleMissBliss · 12/03/2009 16:40

aren't all h/v trained nurses, then train to be a h/v?

With ds they used one of those tempa strips that go under the armpit/tongue so maybe they don't use the ones for the ears very often.

Not knowing what body temperature is a bit odd in her line of work. I thought it was 36-7 dgrs and 38 dgrs was a temp.

wideratthehips · 12/03/2009 16:41

that sounds a bit bonkers to be honest...i'm sure you do have to be an experienced nurse before you do health visitor training.

do you think she ment what is his normal temp...ie is he always a bit hot?

a student nurse on his/her first day of placement would be shown how to use a digital ear thermometer.....

i would be pissed off at the inconvenience of having to come back at another time so she can figure out whats shes doing!

FioFio · 12/03/2009 16:43

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andiem · 12/03/2009 16:44

they are nurses but adult nurses normally so they have evry little experience of working with children before they become hv

explains a lot methinks........

Original poster
IcingOnTheCake · 12/03/2009 16:44

It's a 9.30am appointment next time too. Not fun when your doing night feeds and have a 2 year old to organise as well. It was the only time they had though.

OP posts:
andiem · 12/03/2009 16:45

no they still have to be nurses fiofio as it is a post graduate qualification

FioFio · 12/03/2009 16:46

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FioFio · 12/03/2009 16:46

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Original poster
IcingOnTheCake · 12/03/2009 16:47

I know she is a trained nurse because when my dd (2.5) had her jabs done, my dp asked her why she was doing the jabs and not the nurse? He had no idea that health visitors were trained nurses with dd being his first child.

She was really offended and said in a very stern voice "I am a trained nurse" Ooops!

OP posts:
AnarchyAunt · 12/03/2009 16:48

They have to be nurses/midwives for two years minimum before going on to train as HVs, from what I have found recently.

She probably meant did you know his normal temperature though. And maybe the ear thermometer was new or fiddly or something?

andiem · 12/03/2009 16:49

no the qualification has changed slightly but essentially you can train to be a hv after working on an adult medical/surgical ward etc

I am a children's nurse and lecturer and have the pleasure of teaching hv students
my purely personal view is that you should have experience of working with children and families before you become a hv but that is never going to happen

belgo · 12/03/2009 16:50

That's unacceptable. She should know how to use her own equipment and know what a normal body temperature is.

FioFio · 12/03/2009 16:57

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andiem · 12/03/2009 17:51

they are few and far between these days fio
my first hv was very old school as well rode round on a bike and was lovely so encouraging of bf and everything

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 12/03/2009 17:53

She asked you in case you knew what his particular temperature normally was (varies child to child)

and the equipment was probably new or not the type she normally uses

they're always springing new crap on them

sassafrassj · 12/03/2009 17:57

Yeah, well mine told me my son was growing fine and in the 50% percentile for height...until I realized that she plotted his height at 84 cms instead of 80.4. Know how to read a graph? Not so much.

But this from someone used to the system in which developmental appointments are with the a pediatrician, not with a poorly trained h/w... So maybe I'm expecting too much to think she can give me accurate info about his growth.

YANBU if she really didn't know what a normal temp is.

countingto10 · 12/03/2009 18:14

My DH was in hospital for pneumonia last week, a nurse was doing his observations with a doctor present but couldn't get the gadget that takes your pulse to work so the doctor told her to take his pulse manually - she hadn't a clue what to do/how to do it. The doctor was as amazed/stunned as my DH !!!!

Original poster
IcingOnTheCake · 12/03/2009 18:15

I think as she looked confused and then asked me if i knew what the normal body temperture was in a i cannot remember kind of voice rather than asking if i knew what his body temp was in a matter of fact kind of way, she was definatly asking me what the normal temp in general was rather than my babys normal temp.

OP posts:
choochoochaboogie · 12/03/2009 19:14

OMG !!!

Fortunately we had a great one which knew which end was which and what to do with them !

cheshirekitty · 12/03/2009 19:34

sassa - health visitors are not poorly trained. Loads of them have done 3 years nurse training, 18 months midwifery and 1 year HV training. Thats 5.5 years of poor training then.

scrooged · 12/03/2009 19:40

Helth visitors used to ba trained adult nurses who did a post graduate course so have very little idea of what to do with children as they were not paediatric trained. Very odd if you ask me!

littleducks · 12/03/2009 20:21

i did work experience on a hospital ward (yr 10 so 14/15 ish) i did patients obs, unassisted by the end of the first day, fgs how hard is it to take a temp?

she should have gone and found another themometer if there was a prob with the first one

QuantitativeMeasure · 12/03/2009 20:24

Im sorry, I really don't believe that a HV would not know what a normal temp was.

Are you sure she didnt mean what was your childs normal temp????

SadMarg · 12/03/2009 21:27

Grasping at straws here, but could she just have been tired and having a mental blank? I swear I forget my own name sometimes!!!

That being said, I loathed my HVs and couldn't wait to be shot of them - the ones I had were absolute twits.

Nervous as to what the HV in my new area will be like as I am pregnant at the moment.

goodnightmoon · 12/03/2009 22:51

last night we were at A&E and the nurse took DS's temp with an underarm thingy. She took it out, threw it in the bin, and then when she went to write it down - said - oh i didn't even look, i just put it in the bin.

THen, oh i think it was 38.5.

DH and I gave each other a look of horror so she did it again. Was actually 39.7.

never mind his heartrate was 215 bpm and no one seemed too concerned.