Continuous pulse oximetry in the general surgical ward: Nellcor N‐200 versus Nellcor N‐3000

New measurement principles in pulse oximetry have been introduced to decrease the incidence of false movement alarms. Experimental studies have shown that the new Nellcor Symphony N‐3000 may reduce the incidence of false alarms when monitoring during different activities. We compared the Nellcor Symphony N‐3000 with the Nellcor N‐200 pulse oximeter, when monitoring patients in the general surgical ward. Twenty‐two patients were monitored during unrestricted ward activities for a total of 275 h with a N‐3000 and a N‐200 pulse oximeter simultaneously. Data were analysed for lack of concordance between the two pulse oximeters with respect to frequency of registered hypoxaemic episodes and thus the amount of time spent in the alarm state. The median number of desaturation episodes with the N‐200 was 18 (range 0–511) compared with four (range 0–476) with the N‐3000 (p < 0.0001). The median number of drop‐outs (loss of signal) was 13 (range 1–46) with the N‐200 compared with nine (2–41) with the N‐3000 (p = 0.06). The N‐200 registered saturation values of 85% or below for 23% of the observation time compared with 6% of the observation time with the N‐3000 pulse oximeter (p < 0.0001). The different working principles of the two generations of oximeters were reflected in the present results derived from a clinical setting. The Nellcor Symphony N‐3000 may offer an advantage compared with the Nellcor N‐200, because of the reduced frequency of alarms and total time in alarm when monitoring patients in the general surgical ward.