Mondal Himel, Das Amit Kumar, Behera Joshil Kumar, Mondal Shaikat
Department of Physiology, Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital, Balasore, Odisha, India.
Department of Medicine, Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College, Kolkata, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Feb;11(2):708-714. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1364_21. Epub 2022 Feb 16.
Consumer-grade pulse oximeters are used to monitor blood oxygen levels (SpO) at home. Sharing a pulse oximeter with family members in isolation centers or home isolation due to COVID-19 may increase the chances of cross-infection.
We aimed to find if using commonly available disposable polyethylene covers either on the finger and/or on the pulse oximeter provides the same reading of SpO or not.
Two operators measured SpO on 10 healthy subjects with three randomly selected pulse oximeters. Six types of commonly available polythene bags (transparent, translucent, and opaque) were used to cover the fingers and/or device. After measuring the baseline SpO (i.e., without using covers), the measurements were taken with a covered finger, and/or covered oximeter probe.
The mean age of the research participants (five male, five female) was 23.9 ± 5.11 years. Perfusion index was 9.12 ± 1.63 (males 9.6 ± 1.42, females 8.64 ± 1.85, = 0.38). Black opaque polyethylene bag as finger or probe cover did not detect any signal. There was no difference in SpO reading when a pulse oximeter probe is covered, and/or a finger is covered. There was excellent inter-observer and inter-device agreement.
Commonly available transparent and translucent polyethylene plastic bags may be used as finger or pulse oximeter cover without compromising the SpO reading. However, an opaque black plastic bag is not suitable for finger or probe cover. These easily available and cheap pulse oximeter covers may be used by multiple patients or family members in an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic with the potential to prevent cross-infection.
消费级脉搏血氧仪用于在家中监测血氧水平（SpO）。在隔离中心或因新冠疫情居家隔离时与家庭成员共用脉搏血氧仪可能会增加交叉感染的几率。
我们旨在探究在手指和/或脉搏血氧仪上使用常见的一次性聚乙烯套是否会影响SpO的读数。
两名操作人员使用三台随机选取的脉搏血氧仪对10名健康受试者的SpO进行测量。使用六种常见的聚乙烯袋（透明、半透明和不透明）覆盖手指和/或设备。在测量基线SpO（即不使用套子）后，分别测量手指覆盖套子和/或血氧仪探头覆盖套子情况下的SpO。
研究参与者（五名男性，五名女性）的平均年龄为23.9±5.11岁。灌注指数为9.12±1.63（男性9.6±1.42，女性8.64±1.85，P = 0.38）。黑色不透明聚乙烯袋作为手指或探头覆盖物时未检测到任何信号。当脉搏血氧仪探头被覆盖和/或手指被覆盖时，SpO读数没有差异。观察者间和设备间的一致性良好。
常见的透明和半透明聚乙烯塑料袋可作为手指或脉搏血氧仪的覆盖物，而不会影响SpO读数。然而，不透明的黑色塑料袋不适合作为手指或探头的覆盖物。在新冠疫情等紧急情况下，这些易于获得且便宜的脉搏血氧仪覆盖物可供多名患者或家庭成员使用，有可能预防交叉感染。
