Classification of finger pulse oximeter based on their response time using quantitative analysis

The measurement of response time of pulse oximeter lacks standardized method and proper thresholds and alternative measurement methods are needed to minimize error and improve efficiency in calibration method of pulse oximeter due to the increasing number of pulse oximeter variations distributed due to the covid 19 pandemic. This study aims to measure the Response Time (RT) of a finger pulse oximeter with 6 different types of conditioning to determine the RT mean and standard deviation in order to classify the pulse oximeter based on their types. We evaluated the response time of 50 finger pulse oximeters (20 patient monitor type, 8 handheld type, and 22 fingertip type) using 6 saturation and desaturation conditioning methods with a SpO2 Simulator. Quantitative analysis used to determine the initial threshold value. From 50 pulse oximeters found the fastest response pulse oximeter are fingertip type with mean time are 9.71 seconds and the most stable of each conditioning pulse oximeter are patient monitor type with the average RT 3.47 seconds, and Handheld type are put in the middle. With the conclusion that Patient monitor type are classified in monitoring class, Handheld type are classified both in monitoring and diagnostic class and Fingertip both classified in diagnostic and preventive class. © 2023 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences.