A pulse oximeter is a medical device that indirectly measures the oxygen saturation of a patient's blood (as opposed to measuring oxygen saturation directly through a blood sample) and changes in blood volume in the skin, producing a photoplethysmograph. It is often attached to a medical monitor so staff can see a patient's oxygenation at all times. Most monitors also display the heart rate. Portable, battery-operated pulse oximeters are also available for home blood-oxygen monitoring. The original oximeter was made by Milliken in the 1940s. The precursor to today's modern pulse oximeter was developed in 1972, by Aoyagi at Nihon Kohden using the ratio of red to infrared light absorption of pulsating components at the measuring site. It was commercialized by Biox in 1981. The device did not see wide adoption in the United States until the late 1980's.
The INGEN Pulse Oximeter™ is a new and very important device to check patient blood-oxygen saturation (SpO2) level and pulse rate. As a small, compact, simple, reliable and durable physiological monitoring device, the INGEN Pulse Oximeter™ greatly enhances patient care, and is for Adult and Pediatric patients. This small & lightweight design has a measurement range of 70% - 100%, and requires two AAA batteries. It has a Resolution of 1% with a measurement accuracy 70% - 100%: ±3%. Some of the features include a dual color OLED display, display SpO2, PR, Pulse bar and Plethysmogram, 6 display modes, low power consumption, automatically power off, battery-low indicator, adjustable brightness and accommodates widest range of finger sizes from pediatric to adult.