Pulse Oximetry Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Disease: Bringing Evidence Into Practice.

Congenital heart disease is the most common and serious type of infant birth defect. Pulse oximetry screening has been supported in the literature as a valuable tool to aid in the prompt detection of critical defects. Pulse oximetry is easily accessible, inexpensive, and noninvasive, and can be readily performed by clinical nurses at the infant's bedside; however, it remains a technology that is underutilized in newborns. Nurses can be leaders in addressing the need to translate knowledge into practice to improve the morbidity and mortality rates in the newborn population.