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FAQ’s of Pulse Oximeters & Pulse Oximeter Price
Q: What are Pulse Oximeters?
A pulse oximeter is a noninvasive medical device that measures the oxygen saturation in a patient’s blood and pulse rates.
These devices are very convenient and useful as they can be used with no trouble anytime and anywhere.
This particular model is known as the portable pulse oximeters. Here is explained how pulse oximeters work.
These are clipped to a translucent part of a patient’s body which can be usually a finger or earlobe, a photodiode is faced with a pair of small light-emitting diodes, which has two different wavelengths.
One LED is an infrared and the other is red. Absorption at the said wavelengths differs a lot between oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, thus, making it possible to calculate the ratio between the two.
The most widely used types of pulse oximeters are the finger pulse oximeters which are attached to the fingertip.
Q: What is the Need of a Pulse Oximeter?
The major reason of applying a pulse oximeter is that this device reads the current amount of oxygen present in blood by placing the sensor over the fingertip (or sometimes the earlobe).
The exact reading will indicate whether you need to stop your activity, or to have supplemental oxygen.
Earlier, doctors mainly had to rely on their clinical eye for the judgment, diagnosis, and evaluation of various medical conditions of the patient.
This was a major concern as some symptoms may noticeable already at the late stages of the disease, especially with problems regarding respiration.
When patients breathing becomes weaken, arterial blood oxygen levels may quickly fall and deficiency of oxygen may be dangerous and would definitely put patients at risk.
In the past, there were only a few tools that could help out them in examining patients, but fortunately, with the advancement of medical technology, a pulse oximeter helps doctors to diagnose and treat diseases more effectively.
Q: What are the Different Types of Pulse Oximeters?
There are many types of pulse oximeters and each of these is made to cater to one’s medical needs.
One of the most widely known and used type of pulse oximeters is the finger pulse oximeter. These variants of pulse oximeters are attached to the finger and from there give the blood oxygenation and pulse rate reading.
These have become very handy as they are portable and efficient to use, thus, making these pulse oximeters the most common among the pulse oximeter types.
Another pulse oximeter type is one that is the handheld oximeter. These are models which basically involve the use of a probe.
This probe is normally attached, using a special cord, to a unit. When testing, place the probe to your earlobe or finger and then switch on the oximeter.
Q: What is Fingertip Pulse Oximeter?
Fingertip pulse oximeter, clips onto a patient’s finger, and comes with a tiny computer and screen.
This type is very light and portable and will be easy to store in your pulse or pocket. The clip emits light from one side and measures the light on the other.
Its computer is further used to measures the light over several pulses and gives readout of the patient’s blood-oxygen level.
Merely slip the device on your finger and wait for the readings to display on the screen on the face of the fingertip pulse oximeter.
This particular type is very easy to operate and is often used at home. The only disadvantage of fingertip pulse oximeter is if the patient’s hand is damaged or his blood flow is slow because of a clot or injury, it may not give an accurate reading or it may not work at all.
Choices in Types of Pulse Oximeters
There are many types of pulse oximeters. Each are made to cater to one’s medical needs. One of the most widely known and used type of pulse oximeters is the finger pulse oximeter.
These variants of pulse oximeters are attached to the finger and from there give the blood oxygenation and pulse rate reading.
These have become very handy as they are portable and efficient to use, thus, making these pulse oximeters the most common among the pulse oximeter types.
Another pulse oximeter type is one that is able to store several information regarding different patients.
Because usually one oximeter is used for one patient at one time, as it is designed to monitor specific bodily functions of patients, there is now a pulse oximeter that is able to monitor several patients at the same time.
There is a wide range of types of pulse oximeters online—just Google the aforementioned keywords and find out about more.
Pulse Oximeters Uses and Benefits
The uses of pulse oximeters have become quite handy to the medical world as they are handy and convenient.
Pulse oximeters’ uses include detection of under oxygenation in blood, monitoring of a patient’s tendency to have interrupted breathing during sleep, and examining pulse rates.
A pulse oximeter uses a pair of light-emitting diodes to perform the abovementioned actions. To use pulse oximeters, you just have to attach or clip it to a part of your body—usually to a finger of an earlobe—and then wait for the reading.
Its speed and simplicity made the rate of finger pulse oximeters uses very high. Portable pulse oximeters’ uses have been proven very practical, most especially for pilots, cardiac patients, athletes, and plastic surgeries.
It has also been proven useful in emergency rescue medicine, like in a rescue from fire. Latest generation pulse oximeters can be attached to any part of the body and check for pulses.
The Benefits of Having an Exercise Pulse Oximeters
An exercise pulse oximeter is a medical device designed to measure the oxygen saturation in a patient’s blood and his or her pulse rates during exercise.
With those in mind, exercising with pulse oximeters has become quite a craze especially in sports training.
Exercise pulse oximetry is applied to be able to increase one’s endurance, speed and efficiency by monitoring the effects of exercise on the body.
The use of pulse oximeters during exercise enables one to measure blood oxygenation during exercise.
This information is quite useful to be able to achieve the aforementioned goals of exercise pulse oximetry.
Exercise testing with pulse oximeters would allow the trainee to rid of several products like altitude tents or hyperbaric chambers to simulate high altitude conditions.
The exercise pulse oximeter’s reading makes it possible for the trainee to know what to do in order to train with less oxygen (as in high altitudes) for short periods of time to increase red blood cells and, thus, encourage the body to become more efficient.
Tips in Buying a Pulse Oximeter
Buying a pulse oximeter can prove to be a good investment for you, especially if you really need to monitor your blood.
 Buying pulse oximeters has become a fad especially for athletes and airline companies as athletes need to monitor their oxygen levels to be able to have higher endurance, improved speed and efficiency while pilots need to monitor their blood pressure levels in non-pressurized areas above 10,000 feet.
 To buy a pulse oximeter is to invest in something very useful as monitoring the oxygen saturation in your blood may also become a preventive process for respiratory illnesses.
It has also been quite common buying a pulse oximeter online. There is a variety of websites featuring different types of pulse oximeters that will suit your needs and your budget.
 Once you have decided to buy a pulse oximeter, also consider buying a used pulse oximeter as these are cheaper and these devices are designed for long term use anyway.