Why are rectal temperatures seen as taboo or lost art these days

Why don’t doctors and nurses do rectal temperature’s regularly anymore these days! It’s pretty well considered taboo!

They don’t often do it on babies anymore much less children, teens or adults!

It’s THE MOST ACCURATE WAY! And it’s the BEST WAY FOR ME!

I just wish it wasn’t seen as such taboo or a thing of the past! I wish they would start doing them again at the doctors office!

The area/ subject of a person’s bottom including medical procedures has for many years been considered, yes, a “ taboo” subject.

That said, not everyone takes that view. Look at the people here contributing to the subject via images and experiences.

There are those who agree that it is the most accurate measurement short of esophageal.

The procedure in medical venues can be affected by many variable. It could be the patient, hospital/medical facility venue, and available technology and in the case of the older mercury thermometers, the focus on mercury as a hazard.

There are probably many who use the rectal method but for fear of being scoffed at or dismissed, or labeled such as “ weird”, “ kinky” or more severe labels, don’t broach the subject with others.

Medicine in general has become 'less intrusive' and unfortunately a thermometer in the rectum is just that.

Mostly its time it takes still used in chemo patients

I worked on a chemo floor and we never did rectal temps!

My late wife had several sessions on the chemo floor but never had her temperature taken rectally. The nurse would wheel round the trolley that held the machine that took her BP and temperature was just a click in the ear as it is usually done nowadays. There would be no privacy for rectal temps.

I can't imagine that temperatures are taken rectally anymore due to time pressures and intrusion, in the real world anyway.

I’m not sure if rectal temps were ever popular or widely accepted in the United States. I don’t think that most parents and nurses enjoyed seeing someone physically and mentally uncomfortable with having a thermometer in their ass. Let’s not forget, that the majority who had their temperature taken that way, didn’t like it, and didn’t end up with a fetish. Besides, anal penetration was likely a lot more taboo in America, and England, than it is today. We had several anti sodomy laws on the books. Europeans don’t share that history, to my knowledge. Nudity, suppositories, and rectal temperature taking, is a common occurrence, or was in the past. It isn’t an indication of a character fault, or psychological problem. Unfortunately, there are mental health “experts,” in America today, who continue to demonize people who would prefer to make their own harmless choices.

I have several younger female nurse friends who have told me that taking rectal temps is still very much a thing, especially if a baby or toddler is indicating a high fever by other means of measurement. Now days a digital probe takes seconds instead of minutes.

They also take digital RTs of their own children when needed.

It's probably because it can be considered sexual. The medical profession is extra careful about anything that can come back to bite them legally. I had a rectal exam to check my prostrate last month. The female PA had a nurse come in to witness. She gave me some type of gown. I just told them I have buns of steel and proceeded to drop by pants. I wanted them to be relaxed so they could do their job.

I was pissed when I took @Shygirl17 in the ER about six months ago for a gall bladder attack. They did not take her temp at all. After asking three times they finally took via the forehead. I then asked for rectal because I don't take chances when it comes to health. They said only if it was higher would they do that. If the methods are faulty they can be off. I have had it happen to me. Had a nurse tell me I had a temp of 99 when it was around 104 years ago.

When it comes to health I take the fetish out of it. Meaning I do what is necessary to ensure we are healthy. That includes a massive amount of research into meds, vaccines, etc. I don't blindly listen to so called medical experts. I look at results for myself. Sadly that has to be done with everything today. Can't trust people to be true experts at their job.

@JJM

I don't know if RTs were ever popular in the U.S. but they used to be commonplace prior to the 1980s. Time magazine even ran a short article in the early 1960s about the use of rectal thermometers in hospitals.

Before the invention tympanic and forehead thermometers, beginning in the late 80’s to early 90’s, there were only two types of thermometers, either oral or rectal. Underarm temps existed as well, but were hardly ever used because they were felt to be highly inaccurate. Glass oral thermometers needed to be left under the tongue for 3-5 minutes, which was not easy for a child, even an older one, to do, especially if they had a cold, were hyperactive, or coughing. Some parents and health care providers felt that most children were able to use an oral thermometer at 5-6 yo, while many others felt 8-10 yo was the correct age to transition, while still others thought 12-14 was better. Some children, regardless of age, still having a hard time, and were felt to be better off sticking with rectal, or going back and forth as needed. Since modern digital thermometers are able to get a result in 10 seconds, it’s less necessary than it used to be. It is still the gold standard, though, and still used sometimes.

Today most hospitals and doctors offices use temporal scans or ear thermometers to take temps. Most hospitals use the temporal scan unless the patient has fever and they need a very accurate reading. No glass thermometer, though; just an electronic thermometer with a plastic probe that goes in the butt. As I have mentioned in another post just think of a generation that will never realize or experience rectal temps and play

I think it could be due to the awareness that there IS a sexual connotation of RTs, a fact amply demonstrated by this forum. Legitimate medical personnel don't want to do anything that may appear sexual, aside from the fact that it easier just to take temps by a brief scan, as is most frequently done today.

I don't think they are lost or taboo. Technology has improved. It used to be that a rectal temperature - in addition to being a safe way to do it for babies - was also the most accurate way to get a person's core temperature, if that was necessary. I had it done a few times for certain reasons as late as my teens, but that was in the 1980s. But now, a reading just as accurate can be obtained in ways that are faster and less intrusive.

Because it's time consuming and modern tech is reliable enough. Super accurate temperature readings aren't really necessary for most diagnoses.

Like many things, advances in technology replace older methods and traditions. To require a rectal temp these days is unusual but not out of the question. Surely reserved for absolute accuracy and the necessity of privacy.

Definitely most accurate, more time consuming and more invasive. But I would err on the side of accuracy when it is advised.

Definitely most accurate, more time consuming and more invasive. But I would err on the side of accuracy when it is advised.

I would argue against the time consuming part. It takes no longer than an oral reading and dropping one's pants takes all of 3 seconds. Same for putting them back on. There's really only a time difference compared to ear and forehead thermometers, and those are so unreliable that they shouldn't really exist at all.

The only real barrier to doing them efficiently is the invasive part, and that's more an issue of perception/personal beliefs at that point. I personally find a rectal thermometer far less invasive/uncomfortable than them shoving a probe under my tongue, so I'd pick it every time given the choice.

If we managed to condition society to view butts as no more special than the stomach or a male chest, I think it would make the rectal temperature much more amenable to the average person. It's pretty simple to only expose the buttocks and keep the front covered; generations of boys have figured it out by mooning people.

I've got 2 thermometers - a Withings temporal one, and a Kinsa oral thermometer. I should try comparing both to a rectal measurement and see what the deltas are. I know that the temporal one can be thrown off because of how I sleep and how it makes my head warm sometimes.

Seriously? 🙄

Because no one except for a tiny percentage of us medfet fans wants a nurse messing with their buttocks or anus for any more time than absolutely necessary.