Fingertip pulse oximeters
Fingertip pulse oximeters are an effective and non-invasive instrument used to obtain a person’s oxygen saturation (SpO2), or the amount of oxygen the blood is carrying as a percentage of the maximum amount it can carry. An oxygen saturation reading of 95% and above is considered normal for a healthy child and adult. Fingertip pulse oximetry measurements have shown to be within 1% - 2% accuracy of arterial blood gas analysis.
When is Pulse Oximetry Used?
Medical personnel use fingertip pulse oximetry as an important evaluation of a patient’s respiratory status. This includes triage of patients who present with chest pain, shortness of breath, or any observable breathing difficulty or show signs of low perfusion, evaluation of a patient’s response to supplemental oxygen, new lung medication, ventilator treatment, or any medical condition in which respiratory function may be compromised. This includes heart attack, heart failure, COPD, anemia, lung cancer, asthma, or pneumonia.
Physical therapists, occupational therapists, chiropractors, and certain conditioning specialists use pulse oximetry to evaluate a patient’s response to rehabilitative exercises or training progression exercises.
In What Setting is Pulse Oximetry Used?
The use of fingertip pulse oximeters can be found in hospitals, medical clinics, skilled nursing homes, long-term care facilities, emergency medical services personnel, home healthcare, therapy clinics, and at home. Such is the case for its use as an early indicator of silent hypoxia of COVID infected individuals who are at home in determining when that individual should go to the hospital.
The non-invasiveness, portability, ease of use, readability, wide range of fit, and surprising accuracy make fingertip pulse oximeters a convenient and valuable tool in the care of patients, clients, and family members.
ProhealthcareProducts.com carries high-quality fingertip pulse oximeters for adults and children from top end manufacturers such Baseline, Nonin, HealthOX, Drive Medical, EKHO, etc.