The Open Oximetry Project (UCSF Hypoxia Lab)

Founded at UCSF’s Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia (CHESA) and the UCSF Hypoxia Lab, the Open Oximetry project was created to improve the safety and precision of pulse oximeters in all populations as these devices have been found to be less accurate in people with darker skin tone. The Open Oximetry Project has organically grown into a hub for bringing together oximetry experts, engineers, academic researchers, clinicians, community members, manufacturers, and regulatory bodies from all geographies and backgrounds. We hope to continue to invite and hold space for diverse voices to work in partnership to tackle these issues.

As part of our efforts to improve health equity, we have partnered with multiple initiatives and donors to address the issue of skin color bias in pulse oximeters. We will do this by 1) improving access to information to assist in the identification of accurate pulse oximeters; 2) recommending updates to testing processes, regulations, and standards to ensure access to quality devices in low- and middle-income countries; and 3) disseminating open-source data to manufacturers and innovators to accelerate the development of quality devices.

We are dedicated to ensuring the outcome of our work will benefit communities who are disproportionately disadvantaged by challenges in pulse oximeters and while we are on this journey, we would love to hear from you if you have any questions or ideas that can help us address this problem in a meaningful and equitable way.