 |
Global Pulse Oximetry Project
|
The goal of the Global Pulse Oximetry Project is to improve the quality of anaesthesia care throughout the world by providing affordable, robust pulse oximetry devices for every operating room in the developing world that not does have one.
The project will also develop a training programme to improve provider response to hypoxemia.
|
Project Background
WHO has led a number of global initiatives to improve the safety of medical care. In January 2007, WHO launched the Second Global Patient Safety Challenge: Safe Surgery Saves Lives, to address the safety of surgical care throughout the world.
As part of this project, the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist was created. The checklist identifies three phases of an operation, each corresponding to a specific period in the normal flow of work: Before the anaesthesia induction (“sign in”), before skin incision (“time out”) and before the patient leaves the operating room (“sign out”). During each phase, a number of steps, such as timely administration of antibiotics and a review of the patient’s medication allergies, must be completed.
The Checklist is simple and can be completed in under 2 minutes, but there is one component that is not currently achievable in every operating room in the world - pulse oximetry. The Global Pulse Oximetry Project aims to address this challenge.
|
|
