Covidien Nellcor GR101704, Service Manual

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System Features
Service Manual 3-7
3.7.2
SatSeconds™ Alarm Management Parameter
The monitoring system monitors the percentage of hemoglobin binding sites
saturated with oxygen in the blood. With traditional alarm management, upper
and lower alarm limits are set to alarm at specific SpO
2
levels. When the SpO
2
level fluctuates near an alarm limit, the alarm sounds each time it violates the
alarm threshold. SatSeconds monitors both degree and duration of desaturation
as an index of desaturation severity. Thus, the SatSeconds parameter helps dis-
tinguish clinically significant events from minor and brief desaturations that may
result in nuisance alarms.
Consider a series of events leading to a violation of the SatSeconds alarm limit.
An adult patient experiences several minor desaturations, then a clinically sig-
nificant desaturation.
Figure 3-3. Series of SpO
2
Events
a First SpO
2
Event
b Second SpO
2
Event
c Third SpO
2
Event