karenej

I am a nursing student, soon to be RN, and I'm looking for tips and techniques from those more experienced than me in order to solve this frustrating issue before it burns me out! It seems like I spend half of my day sometimes just running around to different rooms to troubleshoot why the pulse oximetry monitor isn't reading correctly (I'm talking about those bandaid-like disposable finger monitors, not the plastic reusable ones). Either the patient appears to be suddenly desatting into the 70s for no reason and all the alarms are frantically sounding or the stupid thing just refuses to read all of a sudden. I spend way too much time moving it from finger to finger, then toe to toe. Then I go and get a couple new ones and try those. It just seems absolutely ridiculous- there must be something I'm missing because I never see the nurses doing this. Does anyone have any techniques or tips on how to get the best reading with these things? Especially for difficult patients, like those with circulation issues? If their fingers and toes are really cold, should I warm them up with a hot pack to maybe dilate the blood vessels and bring back circulation? Any advice would be most welcome! Thank you.