That Ominous Decrescendo
5 min readSep 4, 2020
By Nana Dadzie Ghansah
A pulse oximeter is an indispensable tool for the anesthesiologist, intensivist, and emergency room physician. It not only gives a readout of the oxygen saturation but also shows the pulse. Several of the high-grade ones emit a sound with each pulse. Even more impressive, the tone and pitch of that pulse oximeter sound changes if the oxygen saturation changes. Now imagine something happens to a…