What is a Pulse Oximeter? 

A pulse oximeter is a clip-on device that helps you to check on your overall body health, which covers blood oxygen level (SpO2), heart beat rate, respiratory rate and perfusion index. 

What are the uses of a pulse oximeter? 

Pulse oximeter enables you to do a quick body check up and know your overall body health performance. All you need to do is to clip this device into the finger and wait patiently, the result will appear in a few seconds. There are 2 main readings that you will need to pay attention to: 

1. Your blood oxygen saturation level 

Blood oxygen saturation level, or SpO2, is the measurement of how much oxygen your red blood cells are carrying. For a healthy person, the normal range of blood oxygen level (SpO2) is typically between 95 and 100 percent. Reading that is below 95 percent is considered low. It’s important to know what’s normal for you, especially if you have a chronic lung condition. If you have low oxygen level, the pulse oximeter will give you an alert so you can get medical treatment on time. 

What happen if you have low blood oxygen level? You are most probably getting Happy Hypoxia. Read here. 

1. Pulse rate (Heart beat rate) 

The safe range of the pulse rate is claimed to be between 60 to 100. COVID-19 infection can cause an irregular or high heart rate - over 100 beats per minute. Therefore, monitoring pulse rate also plays an important role in detecting the Covid-19. 

Why is pulse oximeter recommended in detecting Covid-19 infection? 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pulse oximeter device has become something of a necessity. This device that has been a staple for many doctors over the years, is now flying off the shelves for household first aid kits. 

Nowadays, there are an increasing number of rare scenarios of sudden cardiac death among the COVID-19 patients, without any prior alert. These patients do not carry any common symptoms of Covid-19, which make them think they are not infected to Covid-19 virus. In fact, these patients are actually experiencing low blood oxygen level without any notice. 

When they are having low oxygen saturation levels, their lungs most likely are deteriorating, which is unable to provide enough oxygen to the body. To avoid this situation happening, it is important to self-monitor our own body condition and getting a pulse oximeter is definitely one of the great choices. 

What are the symptoms of having low blood oxygen level? 

Normally people will be experiencing these symptoms if they have low oxygen levels: 

• Dizziness 
• Headache 
• Shortness of Breath 
• Bluish colour of skin, fingernails, lips
• Fast heart beat 
• Confusion

Please bear in mind that every individual has different body condition, some individuals may not even experience any of the symptoms above! 

Conclusion: It is better to have it at home than nothing. As there’s more Covid-19 cases without symptoms, it is important to consider it as an extra precaution to protect ourselves.