emDocs - October 25, 2021 - By Adam Engberg; Robert Brown; Andrew Moore
Reviewed by: Tim Montrief; Alex Koyfman; Brit Long
“Summary
Pulse oximetry is a standard in monitoring the vital signs of emergency department patients around the world. It is imperative to understand how these sensors work. More importantly, though, is anticipating how and when pulse oximetry may mislead us. The cases we chose highlight two significant flaws in peripheral pulse oximetry: latency and ventilation”