Blood Pressure Machine in Hospitla?

[yelenots]

Hi my mother is in hospital at the moment please can anyone tell me what the clip is for that they put on your finger and also what the numbers mean on the right hand side? Thanks!

[weecalf]

I think that the clip is actually a way of telling if there are any broken bones ribs ect believe it or not ..I once hurt my rib cage and they put this clip o my finger it can tell if the is any fluid gathered ,could be wrong as its awhile ago .

[Huderon]

If it's the one I think it is, it measures your blood oxygen level

[ttfn]

Hi yelenots, yes it is an oximeter
http://www.ehow.com/f...lse-oximetry-reading.
B P readings are taken by a sphygmomanometer. Hope your mum is home soonest.

[yelenots]

Thank you - she has had a stroke and got pheumonia and this morning they are sending her for ct scan to see whats going on..just a bit worried coz they keep taking her blood pressure and the numbers on the machine dont seem too high :(

[ttfn]

Sorry to read that yelenots but the continual monitoring is par for the course. I wish her well

[daffy654]

Low blood pressure can be dangerous yelenots. The blood oximeter reading should read near to 100 in a person who is getting enough oxygen, if it is below a certain reading the patient will need supplemental oxygen.

[Sqad]

1) Amount of oxygen in the blood.
2) Pulse rate.
3) The measurements of both above.

[Lborobrewer]

It is a pulse oximeter and presents the amount of oxygen being carried in the blood as a percentage (oxygen saturation) using a red light shone through the finger. It also provides an indication of pulse rate.
It is not infallible, for example a person that has been exposed to Carbon Monoxide may show 100% saturation, but the device cannot distinguish between oxyhaemoglobin (good) or carboxyhaemoglobin (bad) as they are both bright red.

Under normal circumstances saturations should be greater than 95%, any less than this supplemental oxygen should be used. However, if a person has COPD and has reverted to a different respiration driving mechanism which depends on the level of oxygen rather than the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, oxygen saturations should be between 88% and 92%, any higher and the person's respiration rate may fall and eventually fail completely.

[yelenots]

Thank you everyone ... very helpful

[rowanwitch]

If they were very worried they may take a small sample of blood from an artery as this gives a more accurate picture... this tends to be taken for analysis and needs to get to the machine very quickly or it becomes inaccurate so if they take blood and shoot off a bit quick its not an emergency more likely the machine is on the other side of the hospital
Just anticipating what may come next so you are prepared...

[yelenots]

Oh ok....thanks see what happens later then!