Extending the capabilities of mobile device based pulse oximetry

移动医疗（mHealth）是指使用移动电话来提高医疗质量和效率。在拥有70亿人口和68亿部手机的世界上，移动医疗是筛查和提供医疗服务的重要途径。我们来自UBC的团队创造了一种创新的移动医疗解决方案，称为手机血氧仪，它使用手机应用程序和手指传感器来测量血氧饱和度。血氧饱和度是一项重要的生命体征，通过将其与几个简单问题的答案相结合，我们可以帮助诊断和监测患者，并为资源贫乏的医疗保健提供者提供决策支持。该解决方案的技术创新在于将生物医学工程和医学生理学的复杂原理应用于创造一种低成本，准确和有效的设备，该设备易于在现场使用，只需最少的培训和维护。

Mobile Health (mHealth) refers to the use of mobile phones to improve healthcare quality and efficiency. In a world of 7 billion people and 6.8 billion mobile phones, mHealth represents a remarkable avenue for screening and care delivery. Our team from UBC has created an innovative mHealth solution called the Phone Oximeter, which uses a phone app and a finger sensor to measure blood oxygen saturation. Blood oxygen saturation is an important vital sign and by combining it with answers to a few simple questions we can help diagnose and monitor patients, and provide decision-making support to healthcare providers in resource-poor settings. The technical innovation of this solution is in the application of complex principles of biomedical engineering and medical physiology to the creation of a low-cost, accurate and effective device that is easy to use in the field with minimal training and maintenance. The Phone Oximeter has been commercialized through UBC spin-off, LionsGate Technologies Inc (LGTmedical). Now, we are teaming up with them to improve the Phone Oximeter's signal quality and extend its capabilities; most importantly, creating a sensor for neonates and infants. This technology will become a validated, certified, market-ready product by project end. It will help save some of the 29,000 children under five years of age, disproportionately from sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, who die each day from preventable causes like sepsis and pneumonia. This technology is particularly relevant for the poorest regions of the world, where little or no medical equipment is available, patients are younger and sicker, and most deaths occur before a child even reaches care. In Canada, this technology, and those that stem from it, will improve accessibility, efficiency, and cost of care in tertiary and low-resource care settings, alike. As a result of this work, LGTmedical will access burgeoning clinical markets around the world. The nuances of the underlying technology, resolved through this project, will benefit biomedical engineering and mHealth by setting precedence for further applications of this technology to other conditions and challenges.