Deep Breathing in the Battle
Quite often when I am visiting a patient at the hospital, we become aware of a persistent beep from the vital signs monitor. The patient’s pulse oximeter is registering a low blood oxygen level, usually a dip below 90% (98-100% is normal). The patient will sometimes crimp the sensor taped to a finger or “forget” to breathe during conversation! The beep is a prompt to take a few good, deep breaths, and almost without fail the O2 number climbs back up into normal range. We can continue our visit without further interruption. A persistent beep has been going off for […]
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