Pulse Oximetry

I like using my pulse ox. It is good for getting a quick heart rate and a good visual to reassure kids they are ok. Of course, if I get a bad reading the parent in notified. Usually this is with asthmatic kids.

I work in a nursery and have done home health one on one peds. With the pulse ox, if you get a bad reading make sure 1) the child is not wiggling around, even a wiggly finger will set them off on the low side

2) that it is not saying low signal, if so give it a minute to pick up well, 3)see if child hand is cold, if so try and warm it up, and

4) if still getting a low reading look at skin coloring and check heart rate manually to see if it is matching close to the machine.

If you have done all of these and still low reading notify parent.

The little boy I use to take care of one on one, knew he could get our attention if he made his machine go off while we were doing something else. We kept his on his toe, so he would curl his toe up and make the machine have a low reading and thus the alarm would sound and we would have to go check on him. But most of the time he just wanted a toy or us to change the movies in his VCR.