About the Series
Clinical Perspectives is a series of interviews featuring professionals and clinicians from the broader clinical community, highlighting a range of perspectives on patient care and monitoring technologies. As the company that introduced the world’s first hand-held and fingertip pulse oximeters, Nonin Medical has a rich history of innovative thinking, industry expertise, and commitment to high-quality, noninvasive patient monitoring devices. We invite you to hear directly from industry experts.
Today’s Clinical Perspective:
Gustavo Olguin is a certified respiratory therapist with over 35 years of respiratory health care experience, primarily as a critical care specialist and pediatric and neonatal physical therapist at the Garrahan National Pediatric Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is currently the Head of the Department of Physiotherapy and Respiratory Therapy at Garrahan National Pediatric Hospital, where he leads personnel management, research, teaching, and manages a team of more than 70 health professionals. In addition to his work as a clinician, Gustavo is an active educator and global contributor to the respiratory care field, holding academic leadership roles, participating in international organizations, and serving as a consultant to organizations in the medical technology field.
Introduction
Nonin Medical, Inc. engages with clinical professionals globally to better understand how pulse oximetry is used in real-world patient care. These relationships allow us to stay informed about the ways pulse oximetry technology is being used in real world patient care, and how it can be improved in the future. This edition gives you a clinical perspective on the importance of oxygen saturation as a tool in patient care, and why accuracy matters.
Q: Tell us about your background in the respiratory field, and why you chose respiratory care.
I have been working in the respiratory field for over 35 years. In my country, we don’t have dedicated respiratory therapists, so respiratory care is handled by physiotherapists with additional specialization. I am currently the head of the physical therapy (PT) and respiratory care (RC) at the National Pediatric Hospital DR Garrahan, in BA, Argentina. This is the largest pediatric hospital in Argentina.
My first visit to the U.S. was in 1997, when I was selected for the international fellowship for the American Respiratory Care Foundation (ARCF). That experience introduced me to many professionals in the field and launched my international career.
I became passionate about this field because it’s so closely tied to life and death. Helping someone breathe better means you are directly supporting their life. You need clinical knowledge, scientific expertise, and the right tools—like pulse oximeters—to do this job well. A good oximeter helps confirm diagnoses and ensures the care provided is effective. It’s incredibly rewarding to know you’re helping patients in such a critical way.
Q: Why is accurate oxygen monitoring crucial for patient outcomes in respiratory therapy?
Pulse oximetry, or oxygen monitoring, is absolutely crucial for patient care—it’s like a carpenter with their hammer; you can’t work without it. For those of us in respiratory care, having an accurate oximeter is non-negotiable. The patients depend on us, and we depend on tools we can trust to give us the right information. A pulse oximeter gives the most important information: how much oxygen is in the patient’s body. Healthy people need oxygen to live, so for patients with lung diseases, accurate oxygen monitoring is even more critical.
In my department, we care for patients with chronic respiratory diseases, like cystic fibrosis. Many patients arrive at the hospital with low-cost oximeters that consistently overestimate oxygen saturation, for example, giving readings of 95-96% when the actual saturation is 85-86%. This discrepancy represents a dangerous situation. Even smaller differences, such as three or four percentage points, can be life-threatening for chronically ill patients.
Pulse oximeters are tools that provide quick and easy oxygen level measurements, allowing doctors to make life-saving decisions. Without sufficient oxygen, a patient’s condition can deteriorate rapidly, which is why this device is so essential. Accurate monitoring ensures we can act fast and provide the right level of care.
Q: How does early oxygen level detection impact critical care decisions?
Early detection of oxygen levels is critical in assessing and treating patients with hypoxemia. The oximeter is the first step in determining if a patient’s oxygen levels are low. Once this is confirmed, it guides decisions about how much oxygen to administer.
Administering too much oxygen can damage the alveoli, causing inflammation and harm to the body. Conversely, providing too little oxygen can lead to severe complications or death. Oximeters ensure that the correct oxygen level is provided, balancing patient needs with cost efficiency for healthcare providers. Overuse of oxygen is expensive, so using an oximeter helps optimize care while saving resources.
Q: Drawing on your experience with pulse oximetry technologies, including your work with Nonin products, what factors matter most in device performance?
The most important characteristic of a pulse oximeter is its accuracy. Many devices on the market fail to deliver the precision needed for effective care. For example, some oximeters have a slow averaging time—10 or even 16 seconds—which can significantly underestimate events like apneas in sleep studies. With Nonin devices, you capture critical data in real time, helping make them far superior for accurate diagnoses and care.
When an oximeter is accurate, you can trust the readings to truly reflect the patient’s condition. This trust is essential because the patient’s oxygen saturation levels guide critical decisions, from confirming hypoxemia to determining the right amount of oxygen to administer. Using an inaccurate device could lead to overtreatment, undertreatment, or even harm to the patient.
Patients deserve the best care, which means clinicians must use the best devices. If the science and regulatory approvals back the oximeter, you can trust it to provide reliable data for patient care. This trust is crucial when working with critically ill patients.
In addition to accuracy, device durability and longevity is important. I distinctly remember attending a conference in 1996 where a Nonin representative demonstrated the durability of their pulse oximeter by throwing it against a wall – it still worked perfectly afterward. I was convinced and bought a device immediately. I still have that device today!
Dr. Gustavo Olguin previously served as a paid consultant to Nonin Medical, Inc. and received compensation for speaking engagements and advisory participation. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Nonin Medical or all product users.