Respiratory & pulse rate calculator
Producer:Jim Black
Summary:
Traditionally health workers have been taught to count the respiratory rate or pulse rate by counting the number of breaths or heartbeats during a full minute. However this has often proved difficult for health workers who lack clocks or wristwatches, or who do not feel they have time to spend a whole minute measuring just one physical sign. This application uses the system clock inside the mobile phone to capture the time that the health worker begins and ends counting a chosen number of respiratory cycles or pulse beats, and uses that to calculate the number of breaths per minute or the heart rate. We recommend at least 10 breaths to count the respiratory rate, and at least 30 beats to count the heart rate.