How THIS DEVICE Measures Your Oxygen Levels | How Does A Pulse Oximeter Work?

We take pulse oximeters for granted working in the NHS - we use them everyday, they're cheap and readily available to help measure our oxygen levels - but how do they actually work?

Want to find out more about the medical school process?

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VIDEOS:

UKCAT / INTERVIEWS:

[tomcadden]

This is a different style of vid from you Ollie, be keen for you to do more in this series. Cheers

[LewysBiggs]

Great succinct explanation! I think it's worth adding that pulse oximetry, by the very mechanism you described, has proven less effective in those with darker skin, particularly at lower saturations. Lots of papers discussing this but yet to be suitably addressed AFAIK.

I think it's definitely something to bear in mind as a HCP or a patient yourself. For the most part it's a very useful adhoc tool though.

[THE-idby]

Yes, thanks for the content, very informative. I just wanted to add that when these were invented they were a virtual godsend. The alternative is a traditional arterial blood gas which involved a very large needle stuck deeply in the patients wrist or groin to access an artery. The procedure was painful under the best of circumstances and extremely painful for children, the elderly, and those with diminished capacity because struggle against the pain turned pain into agony.

[harikalanr]

Only 945 views??? I thought your videos would be in the 6 figures (you produce some high quality videos!!). As a medical student myself I find your videos really useful to watch, can’t wait to see what’s next :))

[debbieporter]

Thank you for this . Great explanation. I never understood how It worked before.

[zsmain_]

Thanks. Always wondered how this works.

[wr]

Really exciting to see Dr Ollie making interesting videos of this nature! Would love to see more!

[cddwtbo]

Ohh it was a great help for us during covid pandemic

[qhjjxxg]

Thank you. Would like to see more as you keep things simple. 😊

[zzzz-hpvg]

I just Ordered 1 from Amazon a couple of hours a go i want to know if the super beet chews really work

[ihophomestead]

Thanks for the video, Very informative! As far as the person complaining about pronouns, ignore them as you have done. I believe everyone has the right to self-expression, no matter their political views .

[itsdavew]

Disappointed you added pronouns!! Not needed.

[dc.pentrumesteri]

Low saturation is not a disease but an index, you can have good saturation and heartbeat and die of pain in COPD pulmonary emphysema and pleural fibrosis plus ankylosing spondylitis