Smart Wearable SpO₂ Monitor for Newborns

Monitoring vital signs is a must in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. The objective of this work is to design and implement a neonatal pulse oximeter in an innovative form, easy to use in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) or by parents at home, at an affordable price. Pulse oximetry is a method to measure oxygen saturation of blood (SaO₂) and heart rate (HR); these parameters indicate the assessment of acid-base balance, if breathing is performed in an efficient manner, and if cellular metabolism is effective. For premature newborns or newborns on term the oxygen saturation decreases in case of intracranial hemorrhage, which is the major complication of a newborn, respiratory insufficiency due to insufficient development of the lungs, associated with respiratory pathology and heart failure. This is the reason why we designed an innovative pulse oximeter- that we called P-SOCK.