Whether you are the patient or you are working closely with a patient who uses oxygen on a daily basis, you need to learn about oxygen analyzers. By using an oxygen analyzer, you can both be certain that you are staying as healthy as possible. What are Oxygen Analyzers Measuring? The use of an oxygen analyzer is to ensure that the flow from the oxygen tank through the tubing and into the cannula is strong enough for the patient's blood to stay oxygenated. This is very important when a patient's condition is preventing their blood from being fully oxygenated. The doctor who prescribed the oxygen in the first place will give the patient a target range of oxygenation that the patient or caregiver can then monitor with the handheld analyzer. Who Should Have an Oxygen Analyzer? Anyone who uses or works with someone who has an oxygen tank will need oxygen analyzers. This might be someone who has lung problems or someone with a condition that prevents proper oxygenation of their blood (some cancers, for example). If you are switching an oxygen tank, this oxygen analyzer will make sure the oxygen flow is good and that it will provide the most oxygen saturation for the patient who is using the tank. Check with your doctor if you're not sure if you need an analyzer for the oxygen tank or not. How Reliable are Oxygen Analyzers? What's great about oxygen analyzer companies is that they test their products again and again to make sure that they are working properly. What you might want to do is talk to the manufacturer first to see if you can test the analyzer along with the oxygen supplier – since they tend to have better equipment for their own measurements. If your measurements and their measurements are the same, or close, you can be certain to be able to trust the analyzer in the future. However, if the oxygen levels of the patient aren't remaining stable, a trip to the doctor for a check of the oxygen flow might be warranted regardless of what the analyzer says. What Should You Do if You Get a Low Oxygen Analyzer Reading? There will come a time when the oxygen analyzers get lower readings than you might expect. The first thing you will want to do is to check to see if you have hooked up the oxygen tank properly and used a full tank of oxygen in the first place. Check and recheck the connection points to make sure everything is where it is supposed to be. Look at the oxygen tank itself to make sure it's not damaged or that it's not expired. If everything seems to be in place, you will want to try hooking up a fresh tank of oxygen to see if things change. Usually, this is all that is needed, but you will want to alert the oxygen supplier to let them know that you received a faulty tank instead of a full one.