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In the picture, the patient is being checked for vital signs with a pulse oximeter.

    According to a report in The New England Journal of Medicine this month, commonly used fingertip devices measure oxygen levels in the blood, sometimes giving people with dark skin misleading readings.

    Affected by the epidemic this year, medical institutions around the world have accepted a large number of patients. Dr. Michael Sjoding and his colleagues at the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor encountered this problem when using a finger pulse oximeter, and many of these patients were black.

"We found that this was more common in black patients. Three times as much as before, "Sjoding said.

    Skin pigmentation, colored disinfectants, and other surface light absorbents should not theoretically lead to errors in SPO2 readings because pigments absorb a constant portion of the incident light, and pulse oximetry uses only pulsatile absorption data.

    The best defense against all these potential problems is a deeply suspicious and insight into the mechanism and potential significance of each problem. If there is any doubt about the saturation reading, the staff should place the pulse oximeter probe on their fingers as close as possible to the original patient to check whether the reading is 97%, or as expected. If SP02 is suspected to be incorrect, we recommend the use of a multi-wavelength in vitro oximeter for preliminary analysis. Since pulse oximeter has been widely used, it is recommended that multi-wavelength oximeters should be normally operated in large centers.

Nanjing Superfit