Title:

The First Pulse Oximeter

Description:

The first official pulse oximeters were created in the mid 1970s although methods for measuring oxygen saturation were first discovered in the 1930s and early methods of measuring the oxygenation in blood were in use by the 1940s although the methods were generally unreliable. By the 1980s, a commercial device for pulse oximetry was made available and with the adoption of that device in many facets of emergency room care, engineers expanded on the initial product to create machines that would assist in areas like the intensive care unit and the emergency department of a hospital.