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Covid Oximeter

dweezil said:
I dissed the cheap blood pressure testers, especially when OH got one.

Then i went to the doctor.

It was correct and my BP is now about half what it was 7 years ago.
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That's because the cheap sphygs are crap, wheras the cheap oximeters seem fine.
Besides which, when I was in practice I used to ask patients to bring in their machines and I put their's on one on and mine on the other.
I hoped mine was the correct one, which was never guaranteed after the demise of mercury sphygs!!
 
It's all academic anyway, hospitals won't admit you without a positive covid test. Or at least they wouldn't for my brother in Stoke when he nearly died recently from a run of the mill lung infection that everyone assumed was covid. All he needed was some run of the mill antibiotics. It was only when he got a negative test that the penny dropped.

Understandable, but he'd still be brown bread.
 
doctorf said:
I hoped mine was the correct one
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If I were one of your patients then so would I.

I was a Renal patient for 4 years and would regularly check the NHS BP machines against my cheapish Lloyds pharmacy one. Most of the time they were in sync.
 
2ManyBoxes said:
They're useful because, even if they're not that accurate (assuming they're at least within +/- 2%), they give a figure that is objective. Going by how ill you feel is subject to all sorts of other factors, not least how scared you are.
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Objectivists... :rolleyes:


Edit: in the spirit of the medical importance of the topic, I clarify that that was a joke....
 
misterdog said:
If I were one of your patients then so would I.

I was a Renal patient for 4 years and would regularly check the NHS BP machines against my cheapish Lloyds pharmacy one. Most of the time they were in sync.
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ISTR that even the cheap Lloyds ones were very good.
Wrist ones were definitely the worst, regardless of price!
 
Shame we never had this thread a year ago, the information about blood oximeters was widely known then.
People were too busy blaming government( as usual), and I was accused of supporting quack medicine.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
I’m a severe asthmatic and have had pneumonia a few times, I’ve never seen my levels below 95%, my breathing has been frantic but I was getting the oxygen in.
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I’m a largely ex-asthmatic (I had it really bad as a kid). I’m regularly 94% just vegged out on the sofa watching the TV, but I’ve not seen it drop below that yet. A deep breath or two gets it back up.
 
doctorf said:
ISTR that even the cheap Lloyds ones were very good.
Wrist ones were definitely the worst, regardless of price!
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I told the nurses in renal outpatients once that one of theirs needed recalibrating, though I used to keep them sweet by taking fresh doughnuts.
I suspect a less friendly patient would have 'suffered' from suggesting such.

The doughnuts proved invaluable, nurses know how the system works and can provide invaluable knowledge, and always have time to talk to you when there are sweeties.

I gave my renal consultant an 1899 copy of The Lancet, which was less profitable.
 
misterdog said:
Shame we never had this thread a year ago, the information about blood oximeters was widely known then.
People were too busy blaming government( as usual), and I was accused of supporting quack medicine.
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We did have a discussion very like this one, back in March, IIRC.
 
misterdog said:
Shame we never had this thread a year ago, the information about blood oximeters was widely known then.
People were too busy blaming government( as usual), and I was accused of supporting quack medicine.
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I was working on the 111 Covid Assessment Service from April, when there no testing widely available.
If someone had an oximeter, it made it a doddle to sort out compared to those who felt a bit breathless but had no thermometer, no oximeter, and often nobody around to look after them.
 
doctorf said:
I hoped mine was the correct one, which was never guaranteed after the demise of mercury sphygs!!
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I always found it funny that when we had a patient ‘go off,’ and they had a Dinamap sphyg. device attached, the value of an old mercury sphygmomanometer came in. You can tell a lot by doing manual b.p’s.
When my daughter decided to do her Nurse training, I got her a cheap spyg and a stethoscope and taught her how to take blood pressure readings manually. Useful skill.
 
These are receiving a lot of publicity lately - Radio 4 yesterday, BBC lunchtime news Today. I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SCPBKFO/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I find it hard to get consistent results, which can vary (successive measurements) between 94-98. Anyone else find the same?

The device claims to be 2% accurate, but I assume that to be systematic not random accuracy?

Strikes me that if 95% is the lower end of "normal" and 94% is a trigger for dialling 111, this could generate a lot of calls.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
gustavm said:
These are receiving a lot of publicity lately - Radio 4 yesterday, BBC lunchtime news Today. I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SCPBKFO/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I find it hard to get consistent results, which can vary (successive measurements) between 94-98. Anyone else find the same?

The device claims to be 2% accurate, but I assume that to be systematic not random accuracy?

Strikes me that if 95% is the lower end of "normal" and 94% is a trigger for dialling 111, this could generate a lot of calls.
Click to expand...

I have one of those and find it settles down after a few seconds - as long as you are settled down too - to give a steady and sensible reading.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Mine settles down to a steady reading each time, but every time I do a new test I tend to get a different reading.
 
I would recommend the Salter oximeter. Seems reliable and display is clear & easy to use, unlike many.

For BP I use Omron; as used by my GP.

On the sp02 front; I had cause to visit my local practice recently for an annual check. When reading taken it was 96% which is on the low side for me. Then I realised I was wearing a close fitting FFP2 mask. It seems to me that this would not allow quite the usual volume flow rate of air to my lungs, plus exhaled CO2 would also be more 'trapped'. Got home, checked, and back to 99%.
 
gustavm said:
Mine settles down to a steady reading each time, but every time I do a new test I tend to get a different reading.
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I bought one on the strength of this thread.
My oxygen saturation levels seem fine, but the HR reading has me thinking.
It's usually about 45, but sometimes as low as 37.
The oximeter talks about typical readings between 60-100 for adults.
 
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