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Pulse oximetry in low-resource settings

Lara J. Herbert, Iain H. Wilson
Breathe 2012 9: 90-98; DOI: 10.1183/20734735.038612
Lara J. Herbert
1Dept of Anaesthesia, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol
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  • For correspondence: laraherbert@doctors.org.uk
Iain H. Wilson
2Dept of Anaesthesia, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, UK
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Abstract

Educational aims

  • To increase awareness about the issues of making pulse oximetry available in low-resource settings

  • To increase awareness of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety checklist and how this has triggered the concept of Global Oximetry.

  • To discuss the relevance of increasing availability of pulse oximetry to areas other than operating theatres (such as medical wards) in hospitals in low-resource settings.

Summary Pulse oximetry is used to detect hypoxaemia. It is widely used in both the pre-hospital and hospital settings in developed countries and has become a basic standard of care. There are substantial differences in healthcare between developed and developing countries and it has been recorded that surgery is associated with a much higher number of complications and deaths occurring in resource-limited settings. To address this issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the Safe Surgery Saves Lives Programme in 2007. With this programme, the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist was launched. Included in this checklist is the step to ensure that a pulse oximeter is on the patient and functioning. WHO now has the Global Pulse Oximetry Project, an initiative to promote the use of pulse oximeters in every operating room in the world. The Lifebox project is a charity that aims to help the supply of pulse oximeters at low cost to anaesthesia providers in low-resource settings.

Increasing availability of pulse oximetry in low-resource settings is relevant to all physicians because hypoxaemia is a common complication of many illnesses, particularly pneumonia. Pneumonia impacts developing countries disproportionately, and accounts for over 2 million deaths a year worldwide. Hypoxaemia is a recognised risk factor for death, correlates with disease severity and is difficult to detect clinically until cyanosis is present. Oximetry plays an essential role in early detection of hypoxaemia and in guiding oxygen therapy, which is often a scarce resource.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests

    I.H. Wilson is president of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and is a trustee of Lifebox.

  • ©ERS 2012
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Pulse oximetry in low-resource settings
Lara J. Herbert, Iain H. Wilson
Breathe Dec 2012, 9 (2) 90-98; DOI: 10.1183/20734735.038612

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Pulse oximetry in low-resource settings
Lara J. Herbert, Iain H. Wilson
Breathe Dec 2012, 9 (2) 90-98; DOI: 10.1183/20734735.038612
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Jump To

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Oximetry
    • Use of pulse oximeters
    • Pulse oximetry for anaesthesia and surgery
    • The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist
    • Barriers to achieving global pulse oximetry
    • Pulse oximetry outside the operating theatre in low-resource settings
    • Pulse oximetry specifications
    • Pulse oximetry probe design and prices
    • Lifebox
    • Conclusion
    • Footnotes
    • References
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