A medical device includes a heating element and at least one multifunctional wire coupled to the heating element. The multifunctional wire provides current for both heating the heating element and for determining the temperature of the medical device as a thermocouple. The heating element is further coupled to one or more additional wires for completing both a heating circuit and a thermocouple circuit in combination with the multifunctional wire. In one form, the multifunctional wire and a thermocouple return wire is coupled to a first end of the heating element and heating return wire is coupled to a second end of the heating element. In another form, a first multifunctional wire is coupled to the first end of the heating element, and a second multifunctional wire is coupled to the second end of the heating element.
