Covid-19 patients don’t have an oximeter, this is a manual method for detecting oxygen saturation

Jakarta – COVID-19 patients can use the breath counting method if they don’t have an oximeter to detect oxygen saturation, especially if they experience symptoms of shortness of breath.

“Note the temperature and oxygen saturation if you have an oximeter, if you don’t count your breaths,” said the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 Vaccination Spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, in a health webinar, Saturday.

The patient, he said, was said to be short of breath when his breath was above 24 times per minute. Normally a person’s breath to meet their oxygen needs is in the range of 16-20 per minute.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that about 31-40 percent of COVID-19 patients complain of shortness of breath. The condition of shortness of breath makes it difficult for patients to breathe, causing them to gasp for air.

On the same occasion, the Head of the Emergency Installation (IGD) Prikasih Hospital, dr. Gia Pratama, said patients with complaints of low oxygen saturation in the chest may feel too tight to inhale or exhale completely. Each short breath alone requires greater effort and makes the patient with shortness of breath feel breathless. It was like breathing through a straw.

“Lung capacity and capacity are good, large, can carry liters of air in. Now if the lungs (affected by COVID-19), boro-boro liters, only a few hundred milliliters also need another breath, that’s why the number of breaths becomes high. His breaths are short, especially if the number of breaths is above 24 times, start checking for what’s in his lungs, “he said.

Meanwhile, if the patient has an oximeter, make sure the oxygen saturation rate is not less than 94 percent. Normally the oxygen saturation number to show organs such as the lungs, heart, and circulatory system is working properly is around 95-100 percent.

An oximeter can help patients know how much oxygen is in their blood. These devices, which are generally small and can be pocketed, have sensors that use light to detect oxygen.

COVID-19 patients who are self-isolating, both asymptomatic and symptomatic, if their oxygen saturation is below 94 percent, should immediately seek treatment at a health facility.