https://vibeatstore.com/MBut a simple home gadget called a pulse oximeter could help alert patients to seek help sooner, he said.
“In the hospital, when I’m trying to decide who I send home, a big part of the criteria is ‘What is your oxygen? What is your pulse?’” said Dr. Levitan from his home in New Hampshire, where he just finished self-quarantine as a precaution. “With a pulse oximeter and a thermometer, Americans can be prepared and be diagnosed and treated before they get really, really sick.”
best pulse oximeter
What is a pulse oximeter?
A pulse oximeter is a small device that looks sort of like a chip clip or a big clothes pin. You place your finger snugly inside (most require nail side up), and within seconds it lights up with numbers indicating your blood oxygen level and heart rate. Most healthy people will get an oxygen reading around 95 to 98 percent. Some people with existing health conditions may have a lower normal reading. You should check in with your doctor if the number falls to around 93 or 92 or lower.
How does a pulse oximeter work?
When you insert your finger into a pulse oximeter, it beams different wavelengths of light through your finger (you won’t feel a thing). It’s targeting hemoglobin, a protein molecule in your blood that carries oxygen. Hemoglobin absorbs different amounts and wavelengths of light depending on the level of oxygen it’s carrying. Your pulse oximeter will give you a numerical reading — a percentage that indicates the level of oxygen saturation in your blood. If you’ve been to a doctor in the past 20 years, you’ve experienced pulse oximetry.
What happens if my oxygen level falls? What is the treatment?
If your number dips to 92 or lower, you should check in with your doctor. But don’t panic.
The good news is that it’s a lot easier to bolster an oxygen level that is just starting to drop than one that is dangerously low. When Dr. Anna Marie Chang, an emergency room physician in Philadelphia, tested positive for coronavirus in mid-March, she felt lousy but was reassured by daily checks that showed normal oxygen levels. Dr. Chang, an associate professor of emergency medicine and director of clinical research for Thomas Jefferson University, even started feeling better but kept up her daily monitoring with her pulse oximeter. One morning she felt severely fatigued and saw that her oxygen level had dropped to 88 percent.
The device works better with warmer hands than cold hands. And because oxygen levels can fluctuate, consider taking measurements a few times a day. Also try it in different positions, such as while lying flat on your back or while walking. Keep notes to share with your doctor if needed.
The device will also show your heart rate. A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from about 60 to 100 beats per minute, although athletes with a higher cardiovascular fitness will have a lower pulse.
Health officials are divided on whether home monitoring with a pulse oximeter should be recommended on a widespread basis during Covid-19. Studies of reliability show mixed results, and there’s little guidance on how to choose one. But many doctors are advising patients to get one, making it the go-to gadget of the pandemic. We’ve answered common questions about the device, how it works and what to do with the information it gives you.
Doctors have long known that pulse oximeters are less accurate in estimating blood oxygen levels in non-white patients, but the discrepancies were considered insignificant. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed some of the real dangers of these flaws, as the devices gave falsely high oxygen readings in patients with dark skin.
As a result, some patients faced COVID treatment delays or were denied treatment, and some were discharged from emergency rooms instead of receiving care, researchers found, adding to the litany of healthcare disparities experienced by non-white populations.
Expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met virtually on Tuesday to discuss improvements in standards for pulse oximeters.
The devices, which clip to a fingertip, pass red and infrared light through the skin and measure how much light is absorbed by oxygen-carrying hemoglobin. Melanin pigment in darker skin also absorbs the light, however, and current devices do not adjust for that effect.
