LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
Fact: Darker skin absorbs more light mainly due to higher concentrations of melanin, which protects against UV radiation by absorbing and dissipating it. Melanin gives darker skin its color and allows it to absorb a greater amount of light, resulting in lower reflectivity. This adaptation has evolved to provide protective benefits in areas with high UV exposure, reducing the risk of skin damage and cancer.
If a pulse oximeter fails, skin tone should also be one of the conditions to investigate, unless this information is well documented in the device risk assessment file.
🤔🤔🤔🤔
#postmarket#pmsvranger
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
I ran across this video on Linkedin claiming that there’s “racial bias” in medicine because pulse oximeters are less accurate for black people than for white people. But is there really a cabal of evil whites behind every difference in outcomes between different shades of people?
Pulse oximeters work on the principle that the more oxygen is in the blood, the redder the blood is. To oversimplify, the pulse oximeter looks at the infrared light reflected by the blood and estimates the oxygen saturation. When a person has translucent skin, it’s easy to detect that light. Melanin, the substance that makes skin brown, absorbs the light so less of it gets through. This is physics, not racism.
Melanin has several features that affect health. Melanin protects against ultraviolet light, and as a result white people are 25 to 30 times more likely to develop skin cancer than black people. Does this mean there’s an evil cabal of black doctors plotting to give white people cancer? No. It means white people evolved in northern latitudes where there’s less ultraviolet radiation. We don’t have enough melanin to protect our skin from cancer causing sunlight because we also needed sunlight to make our Vitamin D.
By absorbing and/or blocking ultraviolet radiation, melanin also prevents the skin from photosynthesizing Vitamin D. Vitamin D is vital in the regulation of the immune system and has several other important functions. So, just as white people living near the equator are prone to skin cancer, black people living far from the equator are prone to Vitamin D deficiency and its health consequences. Vitamin D deficiency probably had an impact on the severity and outcome of Covid-19 and other diseases.
In these ways, and some others, Blacks and Whites are different. It’s not racial bias or racism. It’s biology and physics. It seems some people would rather point the accusing finger than work together to solve problems.
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
Expert Public Health Specialist and Digital Health Technician with a Passion for Advancing Healthcare Delivery and Innovating Personalized Medicine Research."
Pulse oximeters may show slightly higher oxygen levels in individuals with darker skin due to how melanin affects light absorption. This highlights the need for more inclusive device design to address racial differences and ensure accurate health monitoring
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
Although this issue is well-documented, it raises important questions about how widely recognized it is and, more importantly, what actions are being taken to address it.
The rapid growth of AI has also highlighted inherent biases against minorities and people of color, which could negatively impact the care these populations receive, especially since they are more likely to become ill than their white counterparts. (DOI: 10.1002/hast.1203)
To ensure equitable, high-quality care, healthcare professionals must recognize these biases and respond to them effectively.
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
I’m pretty sure that every respiratory care practitioner and nurse watching this video is shouting “amen!” right now.
Joel Bervell makes a fascinating and often overlooked point: medical devices are typically designed for the masses. While nuances exist, we often resort to workarounds, develop adaptive behaviors, or, in the worst-case scenario, stop relying on the technology to provide the vital details we need.
Kudos to Joel for raising awareness of racial bias in medicine. I hope more healthcare professionals use this as a catalyst to challenge and improve our practices.
#RespiratoryCare#Nursing#HealthEquity#MedicalInnovation#BiasInMedicine#HealthcareLeadership#PatientCenteredCare#DiversityInHealthcare
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
We had a paper published in 2022 titled "Res-SE-ConvNet: A Deep Neural Network for Hypoxemia Severity Prediction for Hospital In-Patients Using Photoplethysmograph Signal" based on the oversensitivity of Pulse-Oximeters. It looks like those devices underperform too for non-white skins. Explains the reason why I was suffocating during Covid even though my oximeter was showing a comparatively higher saturated oxygen rate.
Be careful of your oximeter reading the next time you use it.
Paper Link: https://lnkd.in/gRexYE8p
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
This is both enlightening and frightening. I speak on health equity and the need for more diversity in clinical trials for this reason. Kudos @joelbervell. Please keep busting those medical myths!
#healthcare#clinicalresearch#healthequity#healthliteracy
LinkedIn Top Voice | Medical Mythbuster: 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Media) | 2024 TED Fellow | 2022 NMQF 40 Under 40 Leader in Health | 300 million+ views on TikTok & Instagram | 1M+ followers across social media
Earlier this year, I showed Kelly Clarkson how Pulse Oximeters fail people of color, and, as Kelly put it, “it’s scary.”
I’ve been rebooting my “Racial Bias in Medicine” series! Yesterday, I kicked things off with Episode 1, focusing on racial biases with pulse oximeters. Be sure to follow for more.
Pulse oximeters are devices that clip onto your finger to measure blood oxygen saturation—essentially, the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. They’re used everywhere, from hospitals to home care.
But for decades, studies have shown that pulse oximeters don’t work as accurately on darker skin tones because of how they absorb light. Recent research even found that pulse oximeters are three times more likely to overestimate oxygen levels in patients with darker skin. Despite this being a well-documented problem, the issue remains unresolved. #healthcareonlinkedin#joelbervell
