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Shashi K. Agarwal, MD
Bergen Pines County Hospital Paramus, NJ

JAMA. 1980;243(1):31-32.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

A vital sign record is an integral part of every patient's hospital chart, and physicians place great reliance on the data incorporated on these sheets. The temperature graph especially is carefully scrutinized, not only to provide clues toward the nature and severity of the disease process, but also to assess the response to therapy. Although faulty thermometers, incorrect techniques, and clerical errors may all lead to erroneous information being displayed on the temperature sheets, there is an inherent shortcoming of many of these graphic record sheets, which may lead to omission of vital data and result in dissemination of fallacious impressions of the patient's thermal behavior. I was recently confronted with a temperature chart of a patient that failed to exhibit a temperature spike of 41^°C, as recorded by the nursing staff, and yet, no clerical error could be implicated as being responsible for the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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