A fingertip sensor learns to spot a wandering heartbeat, earlier

The small clip on a hospital patient's finger that measures oxygen can now watch for something else, too. Masimo's smartSET system has received FDA clearance to look for signs of atrial fibrillation — an irregular heartbeat that affects more than 1 in 10 people over 65 and often goes unnoticed — by reading patterns in the pulse signal it already collects. In validation testing, it matched clinician reviews of heart tracings with 97% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Paired with an earlier-cleared feature that watches for slowed breathing in patients on opioid painkillers, it gives nurses on ordinary wards an earlier nudge to check a patient whose heart or breathing is quietly drifting — in the gaps between routine rounds, when problems usually start.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation