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Team members:

Pablo (Positivity) - Pablo will help to foster positivity and team morale.
Sheila (Strategic) - Sheila will ensure the team does not lose sight of the big picture and that our approach is strategic
Carter (Communication) - Carter will serve to make sure we have a strong communication plan as well as make sure communication amongst team members is professional and respectful.
Fernando (Focus) - Fernando will help the team to stay on track, making sure each tasks in the evaluation process is logical and rationale.
Faith (Futuristic) - Faith will encourage forward thinking, making sure the team takes into consideration anticipated societal changes to include other medical and technological advances.

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Source:  Medgadget
Title of article:  Smartphone Camera Measures Blood Oxygen
By: Conn Hastings

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At the University of Washington a research team has developed a smartphone system that can measure blood oxygen levels. The technology uses the camera and flash of the phone to take the measurement, and the system is so easy to use that it may be well suited for at-home use. A person presses their finger over the camera, which gets illuminated by the flash, and the camera measures how much light from the flash the finger absorbs, which a deep-learning algorithm can then correlate with blood oxygen levels. The system could be useful for COVID-19 patients who wish to monitor their progress at home and receive early warning of any disease exacerbation.

Healthy individuals typically have a blood oxygen saturation of 95% and higher, but respiratory illnesses that make our lungs work less efficiently, such as COVID-19, can result in this number declining, with an associated need for medical attention. At present, clinicians can easily measure blood oxygen levels with a clip-on pulse oximeter, which is affixed to the finger or ear.

However, giving people the ability to measure their blood oxygen levels at home would be beneficial. These researchers have developed a technique that allows people to do just that, using a tool most of us possess already, the smartphone.

Images credit: Dennis Wise/University of Washington
"This way you could have multiple measurements with your own device at either no cost or low cost," said Matthew Thompson, one of the developers of the new technology. "In an ideal world, this information could be seamlessly transmitted to a doctor's office. This would be really beneficial for telemedicine appointments or for triage nurses to be able to quickly determine whether patients need to go to the emergency department or if they can continue to rest at home and make an appointment with their primary care provider later."

To train the deep learning algorithm, the researchers recruited volunteers who wore a standard pulse oximeter on one finger and pressed another finger against a smartphone camera. This allowed the researchers to correlate the readings between the two devices. Then the volunteers breathed a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen for 15 minutes, which caused their blood oxygen levels to drop. Once the algorithm was trained, the smartphone system could identify that people had low blood oxygen levels approximately 80% of the time.

"Other smartphone apps that do this were developed by asking people to hold their breath. But people get very uncomfortable and have to breathe after a minute or so, and that's before their blood-oxygen levels have gone down far enough to represent the full range of clinically relevant data," said Jason Hoffman, another researcher involved in the study. "With our test, we're able to gather 15 minutes of data from each subject. Our data shows that smartphones could work well right in the critical threshold range."

Study in journal npj Digital Medicine: Smartphone camera oximetry in an induced hypoxemia study

Flashback: Smartphone Camera Detects Breathing Rate, Pulse and Blood Oxygen Saturation

Via: University of Washington

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At the University of Washington a research team has developed a smartphone system that can measure blood oxygen levels. The technology uses the camera and flash of the phone to take the measurement, and the system is so easy to use that it may be well suited for at-home use.

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September 21, 2022

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Smartphones are seemingly our lifeline.   Much of what we do on a daily basis requires or involves smartphones.  Thus, using them for medical purposes makes since.  Whereas I believe utilizing smartphones for capturing blood oxygen levels is an excellent idea and in line with today's society, I do not think smartphones should or will ever be our only tool for this purpose.  Furthermore, I believe there is significant work to be done to improve accuracy and reliability.

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Cons of this technology:
- 80% accuracy leaves significant opportunity for improvement
- Smartphones are expensive
- The manner in which the blood oxygen level is captured using the camera with flash seems a bit complicated relative to simply placing a small traditional pulse oximeter on a finger
- Not everyone has good circulation to their hands
- Some people do not have arms/hands

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Pros of this technology:
1) Most individuals own a smartphone or have access to one.
2) For those who own or have access to a smartphone, additional equipment would not have to be acquired in order to measure blood oxygen levels.
3) Having one device that can serve multiple purposes is advantageous.

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Hastings, C. (2022, September 21). Smartphone camera measures blood oxygen. Medgadget. https://www.medgadget.com/2022/09/smartphone-camera-measures-blood-oxygen.html

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A collaborative research team to include scientists from the University of Washington and the University of California San Diego created a system that works with smartphone technology to measure blood oxygen levels (Hastings, 2022).   The technology utilizes the smartphone’s camera feature.   Hastings notes, “A person presses their finger over the camera, which gets illuminated by the flash, and the camera measures how much light from the flash the finger absorbs, which a deep-learning algorithm can then correlate with blood oxygen levels.”   The deep algorithm was created by researchers having volunteers wear a standard pulse oximeter on one hand and utilizing the smartphone technology on the other.  Volunteers were given a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen leading to the decrease in blood oxygen levels.  Approximately 80% of the time, the smartphone was able to detect the decrease in blood oxygen levels (Hastings, 2022).

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My top five (5) strengths are:  includer, developer, maximizer, belief, and responsibility.   Using these five strengths, I will:
1)  ensure team members are included in discussions and decision-making
2) foster the development of fellow team members' strengths
3)  work to maximize each team member's potential
4)  hold team members accountable for assigned tasks, and
5) ensure the team, as a whole, maintains high ethical standards in how we conduct ourselves, the quality of work, and any decisions that are made.