A pulse oximeter measures blood oxygenation using LEDs and is attached to the finger, foot, or other parts of the body. It is useful for monitoring oxygen flow in emergency situations, but cannot determine how the body is metabolizing oxygen and can be inaccurate in the presence of carbon monoxide.
A pulse oximeter is a small electronic medical device that measures a patient’s blood oxygenation or the amount of oxygen carried by the blood. It is normally attached to the index finger with a plastic clip, but can also be used on the foot and other parts of the body. It carries out its measurements with the help of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Medical professionals use pulse oximeter information to monitor the level of oxygen delivery throughout a patient’s body.
The science behind how the pulse oximeter works is based on the properties of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is an iron-containing protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. Oxygen is an essential requirement for human function and the human body can only survive a few minutes without oxygen. Oxygenated hemoglobin (or oxyhemoglobin) and non-oxygenated hemoglobin (or deoxyhemoglobin) have different colors.
On the one hand, a pulse oximeter has two LED lights, one that emits invisible infrared light and another that emits red light. The other side of the device has a receptor for measuring the amount of light passing through. The difference between the amount of light detected is used to measure the amount of oxygenated blood of the patient. The light also has to pass through the skin and bone, as the patient’s finger will swell with blood with each pulse beat.
Pulse oximeters are minimally invasive and do not require breaking the skin. The device is painless and is recommended for use with frail patients, such as premature babies. They are especially useful in situations where you need to monitor oxygen flow, but simplicity and speed are also required. Emergency room and intensive care unit professionals find pulse oximeters particularly useful when monitoring their patients. It can also be helpful in diagnosing sleep disorders such as apnea by indicating if the patient has stopped breathing during sleep.
The device has its limitations. While a pulse oximeter can measure the amount of oxygen in the blood, it cannot determine how the body is metabolizing that oxygen. For example, a patient’s blood may be full of oxygen, but insufficient blood flow would still prevent this oxygen from being used by the organs. Readings from a pulse oximeter can also be inaccurate due to an increase in carbon monoxide in that patient’s blood. Newer models, however, come with a feature to prevent this problem.
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