Facts About Pulse Oximeter

Most patients to date have worn a pulse oximeter monitoring system while being

confined in medical facilities without even knowing what it is for and how it works. For the people who are new to the term, pulse oximeters are devices that measure the saturation of oxygen in the patient's blood without the need to draw for a blood sample, which is painful and risky. A special clip that contains the probe is attached to a translucent part of the body, which can be a fingertip, a toe, or even an earlobe. The probe will then record what it finds about the patient's blood and relays the data on the connected computer. The computer will then interpret the data into understandable information that can be read by doctors and other medical personnel.

Pulse oximeters came into popular use in the medical field in the 1980's. Back then, blood gas levels were used on monitoring oxygen saturation in blood, which requires blood to be drawn from the patient.

A pulse oximeter makes use of light waves and their physics to determine the saturation of oxygen in hemoglobin. Oxygenated blood absorbs high levels of infrared light, where as deoxygenated blood absorbs less infrared. The light absorption is sensed by the probe, which is then interpreted into numerical values by the computer.

There are several factors that affect the accuracy of pulse oximeters. One is the body movements of the patient. Another is the medical condition of the patients, such as anemia or sleep apnea, as well as the use of cosmetics in the body part where the probe is to be placed, such as nail polish.

Pulse oximeters are used to monitor the saturation of oxygen in the blood on a more constant basis than drawing blood samples periodically. Also, an oximeter can be brought at home and plugged into a wall socket just like any other household appliances for more constant monitoring.

The use of pulse oximeter is also cost-efficient for medical facilities. Monitoring a person's blood gas levels through non-intrusive means of an oximeter costs much less than drawing blood from the patient and conducting series of tests on it.

by: Jack Rogers

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