Medical thermometer and displaying temperature became available, electronic thermometers (often called "digital", because they display numeric values) have been used. Many display readings to great precision (0.1 °C or 0.2 °F, sometimes half that), but this should not be taken as a guarantee of accuracy: specified accuracy must be checked in documentation and maintained by periodical recalibration. A typical inexpensive electronic ear thermometer for home use has a displayed resolution of 0.1 °C, but a stated accuracy within ±0.2 °C (±0.35 °F) when new. The first electronic clinical thermometer, invented in 1954, used a flexible probe that contained a Carboloy thermistor. Types
Mercury-in-glass thermometer and hospitals should buy mercury-free thermometers and blood pressure meters and called on dentists, medical technicians, and environmental health specialists to start eliminating this toxin. mercury thermometers were still on sale to the public at pharmacies. There was a voluntary take-back action for thermometers containing mercury based on the Federal Waste Management Plan 2006, and carried out in close cooperation between the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists (Österreichische Apothekerkammer), the Federal Ministry of Environment, a private waste disposer, a producer of electronic thermometers and a pharmaceutical distributor. The disposal company supplied each pharmacy (approximately 1,200) with a collection bin and covered