The effectiveness of innovative cover of oxygen saturation probe in infants.

Abstract

A measurement of oxygen saturation level was evaluated by pulse oximeter. This caused many problems such as a skin ischemia and ulcer from some medical devices especially in infants age less than 1 year.  The researcher was developed “Sandwich sat”. This was an innovative cover of oxygen saturation probe in infants. This descriptive research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Sandwich sat innovation for infant in four aspects: 1) Innovation application 2) Safety 3) Pattern 4) Value by registered professional nurses. The sample consisted of 30 infants of the newborn nursery at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Thailand. The research instruments were structured interviews for a focus group and questionnaires. The Index of item objective congruence was 0.88 and the Inter – rater reliability was 0.82 respectively. The frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used in the data analysis.

              The results were as follow. The overview effectiveness of the Sandwich sat innovation in the four aspects were at the high level. The registered professional nurses evaluated the effectiveness of the innovation in the value aspects at the high level ( = 4.25 , SD = 0.48 ) Pattern( = 4.20 , SD = 0.63 ) Safety ( = 3.82 , SD = 0.76 )   Innovation application ( = 3.15 , SD = 0.83 ). The results of the focus group found that it could be applied to skin but it could easily become dirty and detached from the  Oximeter probe. It was suggested that the innovation could be applied on the skin of infant. It can use instead of elastic tape. This innovation may be further developed by using new materials such as papers and silicones to improve the quality, effectiveness, and utility of this innovation.