The ARCPROLED MediPanel COI has been developed to be installed in hospital emergency rooms for fast diagnosis of possible cyanosis.
The ARCPROLED MediPanel COI has been developed to be installed in hospital emergency rooms for fast diagnosis of possible cyanosis.
Cyanosis is a medical term referring to skin and/or membranes turning bluish/purplish. It is an indication that the tissue near the skin/membranes is low on oxygen saturation. It is therefore a visual manifestation of a whole range of potential cardiac or respirator problems and is a symptom the medical professionals are trained to look for.
Because cyanosis is a visual cue of a medical symptom based on observable color, lighting conditions and light quality play a significant part in its visual detection. The detection of a ‚bluing’ of the skin depends largely on the accurate rendition of both ‚normal’ skin tones and blue hues, so it is particularly important that the light color spectrum (and therefore, CRI) factors are considered when developing a lighting design.
Interior Lighting Standard AS/NZS 1680.2.5:1997 covers ‚Hospital and medical tasks‘ , and it introduces the concept of lighting to support the observation of cyanosis. It also establishes the Cyanosis Obseravation Index (COI) as a measure of the ability of a light source to aid the detection of cyanosis in a patient. Full requirements are outlined in Section 7.2 of that standard, which includes
Appendix G of AS/NZS1680.2.5 sets out the calculation procedure for determining the Cyanosis Observation Index (COI) of a light source.
The index value describes a light source’s suitability for visual detection of cyanosis in a patient. The lower the value, the better suited it is. Refer to the Standard for the full description for testing COI, but the basic overview is:
As mentioned previously, the standard suggests that light sources with a COI of no greater tan 3.3 can support reliable visual observation of cyanosis.