Comparison of Latencies and Time to Stabilization of Pulse Oximeters at a Tertiary Health Care Facility

Introduction: Fingertip pulse oximeters are commonly used as non-invasive modes of measuring oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate (HR) in critical care units. In these cases, a shorter duration of time required obtaining the measurement and time to stabilization is crucial. Objective: Our aim was to compare two new generation pulse oximeters with respect to latency in the fi rst reading and time to stabilization of SpO2 and HR. Materials and Methods: This study was a prospective, comparative non-blinded, observational study of two fi ngertip pulse oximeters (Nonin Medical 9560 and CHOICEMMED MD300C1) in 20 in patients at Benedectine Health Center suffering from either one or more chronic diseases. SpO2 and HR readings were collected at the time of fi rst display, 30 s, 60 s and at the time of stabilization of the reading (no more than a 1% change in SpO2, <3 bpm change in HR). Statistical analysis was performed with SAS 9.2 software. Results: A total of 20 subjects were monitored. The average time to fi rst reading across all fi ngers was signifi cantly longer with the CHOICEMMED device (10.3 ± 0.8 s) as compared to Nonin Medical (9.0 ± 0.8 s) pulse oximeter. The mean difference was 1.3 s (95% confi dence interval (CI), (0.05, 2.61), P = 0.04). The average time to stabilization of SpO2 across all fi ngers was also statistically signifi cantly longer in the CHOICEMMED (27.4 ± 2.2 s) than Nonin Medical pulse oximeter (11.4 ± 2.0 s). The mean difference was 15.9 s (95% CI (12.57. 19.29), P < 0.0001). Conclusion: The pulse oximeter (Model 9560) by Nonin Medical showed shorter latency for fi rst reading and time to stabilization when compared to CHOICEMMED (MD300C1), which is a distinct advantage in emergency situations in acute patients. Further larger studies are needed to validate these fi ndings in different clinical settings.