

It can be used to see if you need oxygen therapy. a capillary blood gas test if the sample is collected from your earlobeĪ blood gas test is used to check how well your lungs are working and whether they’re able to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide efficiently.an arterial blood gas test if the sample is taken from your wrist.In people with pneumonia and in children with lung problems, oxygen saturation can help to decide if someone needs to be looked after in hospital.Ī blood gas test is used to measure more accurately how much oxygen and carbon dioxide there is in your blood. Usually you will need to have a number of blood gas tests before oxygen is prescribed.Ī change in your oxygen level may mean that your lung condition has got worse.
#NORMAL PULSE OXIMETER READING PROFESSIONAL#
Your health care professional will discuss this with you.Ĭurrent guidelines recommend that people with a resting stable oxygen saturation of 92% or less should be referred for a blood gas assessment to see if oxygen therapy is appropriate. People with low oxygen level may need additional oxygen or other treatment. If the oxygen level is below this, it can be an indicator that there is a lung problem. For someone who’s healthy, the normal blood oxygen saturation level will be around 95–100%. The oximeter display shows the percentage of oxygen in your blood. These can be used to measure the levels of oxygen in your blood, but sometimes give poor or inaccurate measurements.īefore testing at home, talk to your health care professional. Home use oximeters are available for sale online and in chemists. If your blood cells do not have enough oxygen, they will appear bluer. The pulse oximeter shines 2 lights through your fingertip or earlobe: one red light and one infrared light.īlood containing lots of oxygen absorbs more infrared light and lets more red light pass through it.īlood without enough oxygen absorbs more red light and lets more infrared light pass through it. This tells us how much oxygen your blood contains. How a pulse oximeter worksĪ pulse oximeter measures how much light is absorbed by your blood. It works out how much oxygen is in your blood. This gadget shines light through your fingertip or earlobe. You will have a small device clipped to your finger or earlobe, called an oximeter. What happens during a pulse oximetry test? Talk to your health care professional if you’re concerned about this.

Pulse oximetry results can be affected by medical conditions including anaemia and Raynaud’s syndrome. So you’ll be asked to remove it on one finger only. Nail varnish or false nails can block the light and affect the reading. How can I prepare for a pulse oximetry test? It can also be used to measure your oxygen levels over a period of time, for example during exercise like walking – or when you are asleep. The test can be done as a one-off spot measurement. Pulse oximetry can also be used to measure to how badly a person’s lungs are affected. The more the lungs are damaged, the more likely there is to be a problem with oxygen uptake. People with a lung condition may have a blood oxygen level lower than normal, so pulse oximetry can help to diagnose if there is a problem. It’s a simple, painless test which uses a sensor placed on your fingertip or earlobe. This is called the oxygen saturation and is a percentage (scored out of 100). Pulse oximetry measures how much oxygen the haemoglobin in your blood is carrying. Oxygen is carried around in your red blood cells by a molecule called haemoglobin. hypoxic challenge (fitness-to-fly) test.long term oxygen therapy (LTOT) assessment.Tests to check the level of oxygen in your blood can be helpful in diagnosing or monitoring lung disease.
