On 9 Sep 2009 at 12:01, Curt, WE7U wrote: > On Wed, 9 Sep 2009, Scott Miller wrote:
[snip] > Probably wouldn't work all that well for a man-down alert either. > > Curt, WE7U Hi, Curt: Nope. Too many reasons, other than low O2 sat, for a "man down". Lots of reasons for unconsciousness which would not affect O2 sat enough to be a positive indicator. However, such a device could be put to good use in some SAR situations. It is very difficult to monitor a patient adequately while trying to evacuate over rough terrain. Think, for a moment, of trying to manouver a litter c/w patient through a small, tight, sinous water passage in a cave. Been there, done that - 1983. NOT fun. Tough for the medic (me) to even get close enough to check the patient, for long time periods. Add on a skull fracture, and resps of 8/min and shallow, when we entered the passage, and picture me sweating bullets. Eight 1/2 hours in-cave; two 1/2 hours to nearest neuro-surg facility. The kid came through it OK - lost a few music lessons, had some personality changes during recovery, but now pretty much back to normal. While an OT2/pulse oxim/radio combo would not work well underground, it would sure be great if the O2 sat and pulse rate could be sent back to the command post, so someone could be assigned to monitor and radio the medic on an evac if the patient was going down the drain. Let me know if you need someone to field-test a unit. We are really good at making new toys suffer. Best Wishes, Bernie VE3OTR
