Use of pulse oximetry by community-level health workers in intervention clusters
| Secondary outcome | Young infants with fast breathing* |
| Feasibility of using pulse oximeter by community-level health workers—no./total no. (%) | |
| Pulse oximetry performed by community-level health workers (CLHWs) | 1183/1184 (99.9) |
| CLHWs† performed all steps‡ as per instructions | 1050/1115 (94.2) |
| Accuracy of pulse oximetry when used by CLHWs—no./total no. (%) | |
| Difference in SpO2 readings between CLHWs and supervisors | |
| No | 575/1115 (51.6) |
| 1% | 248/1115 (22.2) |
| 2% | 139/1115 (12.5) |
| 3% or more | 153/1115 (13.7) |
| Impact of pulse oximetry on referral and outcomes—no./total no. (%) | |
| Hypoxaemic infants§ identified and referred to hospital | 10/1183 (0.8) |
| Alive after 14 days of initiation assessment | 10/10 (100.0) |
SpO2, oxygen saturation.
*Fast breathing is defined as respiratory rate >60 breaths/min.
†Among CLHWs whose pulse oximetry were validated by supervisors.
‡All steps to perform pulse oximetry are: (1) cleaned the equipment before use, (2) turned on the device correctly, (3) selected the correct probe, (4) attached the probe correctly, (5) positioned the infant correctly and (vi) determined the reading correctly.
§Defined as SpO2 <90%. CLHWs identified nine hypoxaemic infants, while the supervisor identified one infant.