You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I'm a biology teacher. I am thinking about buying a set of pulse oximeters for use in class. Has anyone got any recommendations for a suitable model? Value for money, reliable, well constructed- with these things is it a case of pick any two?
Look for CE and or UKCA marked ones.
Probably better to buy from a medical device supplier rather than amazon, but if you don't need them to be that accurate or medical device grade then get cheap ones on amazon
@Drac, do you think that the £5.00 jobbies would OK for a class of teenage pupils?
Absolutely. If it’s to just show them SPo2 levels then more than good enough. You’re not using it as a diagnostic too so don’t need to be accurate.
No point in spending large amounts of money on them.
My last one was under £15 and colleagues have paid sub £10 they do the job there designed for.
Brilliant, many thanks for the advice.
Background to this is that we were given two devices years ago as a part of the London 2012 legacy. The pupils have always loved using them. I always thought that they'd be quite pricey and was pleasantly surprised at the cost when I looked.
So, based upon the advice received from some random people on the internet I think that due diligence has been done and I can order fifteen with a clear conscience 😂🤫
Fun fact, quite a few pupils think that they have a different pulse rate in different places in/on their bodies.
I’m a biology teacher.
and
Fun fact, quite a few pupils think that they have a different pulse rate in different places in/on their bodies.
These two statements don't quite add up 😆
Useless fact - pulse oximetry was calibrated by making medical students hypoxic, so anything less than about 80 is extrapolation.
Plus if you happen to have a darker skin tone, they don't work as well.
Unless someone has managed to update them since they discovered that issue
Fun fact, quite a few pupils think that they have a different pulse rate in different places in/on their bodies.
These two statements don’t quite add up 😆
The pulses in your feet need to work twice as hard to get blood back to heart than the one in your neck?
Plus if you happen to have a darker skin tone, they don’t work as well.
The one my wife bought registers as expected on her, but rarely read over 90% for me. She got quite concerned about that, but I'm still here!
Does spO2 correlate to anything in exercise? e.g. does VO2 Max correlate to a drop off in spO2?
I'm a geek and still fancy anew watch so this is my flimsy justification.
the issue with them is that they are only accurate to 2-3 % and the normal values are 95-100%.
the one on my garmin watch is even more unreliable
may be helpful if you are struggling to breath and seeing numbers in the 80s I suppose
Unless someone has managed to update them since they discovered that issue
Funnily enough, we've been recruiting to the UK-ROX trial of standard vs. conservative SaO2 targets, and the EXAKT sub-study (which has not long closed) was looking at precisely that.