A Pulse Oximeter has been an essential medical tool in hospital and healthcare settings since the 1940’s. What healthcare providers and patients usually equate with the term Pulse Oximeters is a large, bulky machine that sits in the hospital or doctor’s office whereby a wire hooks to their finger taking vital signs. This antedated technology, however, has been surpassed by cutting-edge technology that transforms the typical large, bulky oximeter machine into a small, portable machine smaller than the size of a pager.

A Pulse Oximeter is a medical device that measures the blood oxygen saturation as well as pulse rate. More advanced portable pulse oximeters like the Landon Medical Finger Pulse Oximeter PC-60C also measure the changed in blood volume in the skin by way of a photoplethysmograph. A blood-oxygen monitor displays the percentage of arterial hemoglobin in the oxyhemoglobin configuration. Typically, acceptable normal ranges are from 95 to 100 percent. What makes portable pulse oximeters, like the Landon Medical PC-60C, especially effective is that it is a non-invasive measurement instrument that can be carried with the patient wherever they go.

Pulse Oximeters are especially useful where a patient’s oxygenation is unstable, including in such settings as intensive care, operating room, recovery room, and emergency care. Certain professions and hobbies involving extreme changes in altitude also are greatly benefitted from portable pulse oximeters including pilots and mountain climbers. Pilots can utilize a small, battery-powered pulse oximeter like the Landon Medical PC-60C to measure their blood-oxygen levels in altitudes where supplemental oxygen is required.

Due to their small size and accuracy, pulse oximeters are of critical importance to patients with respiratory and cardiac problems, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Further enhancements in portable pulse oximetry have created the wrist sleep unit oximeter for sleep apnea and hypopnea disorders. Landon Medical’s Sleep Apnea Unit PC68-B is perfectly suited for such disorders in that it attaches to a patient’s wrist very much like a large wrist watch and measures stores vital information in the wrist unit for physician’s diagnosis.

As the natural evolution of technology propels manufacturers to create smaller and more portable devices, Landon Medical is leading the way with portable pulse oximeters. Putting in the hands of patients the capabilities of pulse oximeters truly gives patients the peace to mind to monitor vital signs wherever they go.