Covidien Nellcor Series, Operator'S Manual

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Theory of Operations
10-4 Operator’s Manual
10.6
SatSeconds™ Alarm Management Feature
The monitoring system monitors the percentage of hemoglobin binding sites saturat-
ed 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. SatSec-
onds™ monitors both degree and duration of desaturation as an index of desaturation
severity. Thus, the SatSeconds™ feature helps distinguish 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 significant
desaturation.
Figure 10-2. Series of SpO
2
Events
a First SpO
2
Event
b Second SpO
2
Event
c Third SpO
2
Event