Northside Hospital - Special Beginnings

MONITORS AND ALARMS Why is that alarm going off? Is my baby ok? An oxygen saturation monitor, also called pulse ox , is a medical monitor that measures the amount of oxygen in your baby’s blood. When your baby is admitted to the SCN the pulse ox monitor is placed on your baby with a band-aide like sensor. The sensor is wrapped around the wrist, hand, foot or toe. A red light from the sensor will shine through the skin and measure the amount of oxygen in your baby’s blood. The sensor is neither hot nor painful. The sensor site is changed as needed. Monitoring oxygen levels in your baby’s blood helps your baby’s physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists determine your baby’s oxygen needs. Your baby’s physician will determine the optimal range for your baby, and this range is programmed into the monitor. The pulse ox monitor may alarm while you are with your baby. We set the alarm limits so we can come to your baby’s bedside if it appears their oxygen needs are changing. Most of the time your baby will return to the optimal range without needing a change in the amount of oxygen he is receiving. The sensor may react to movement, bright lights, changes in circulation or skin temperature giving a false alarm.

The staff will assess the situation and respond as needed. Often a quick glance at your baby and the monitor can provide enough information to make a judgment to intervene, or to allow the monitor to reset. We can teach you how to identify these false alarms if you would like; however, if you leave the alarm sounds to the staff, you can focus on your baby. We want to assure you that we are attentive to alarms. The pulse ox is only one method we use to monitor your baby’s well-being. We monitor your baby’s heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure and temperature continuously while they are in the hospital. Each bedside monitor is programmed to alert the staff to events happening at other bedsides throughout the pod. This Alarm Watch program is one way for the staff to watch your baby from another baby’s bedside. The nurses caring for your baby may also carry a cell phone that alerts them to changes in your baby’s condition that require attention.

SCAN + PLAY

Please discuss with your baby’s nurse any concerns you have about monitor alarms and what they mean for your baby.

10 Special Beginnings in the Special Care Nurseries