Cost: Benefit of Point-of-Care Blood Gas Analysis vs. Laboratory Measurement During Stabilization Prior to Transport

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J Macnab ◽  
Greg Grant ◽  
Kyle Stevens ◽  
Faith Gagnon ◽  
Robert Noble ◽  
...  

AbstractIntroduction:This study was conducted to determine whether point-of-care testing, using the iSTAT Portable Clinical Analyzer, would reduce time at the referring hospital required to stabilize ventilated pediatric patients prior to interfacility, air-medical transport.Methods:The following data were collected prospectively: (1) When a blood gas analysis was ordered; (2) If it was necessary to call in a technician; (3) Waiting time for blood to be drawn; and (4) Waiting time for results. The cost-efficacy of point-of-care testing was calculated based on: (1) Three minutes for a transport team member to draw a sample and obtain a result using the iSTAT (unit cost $CDN8,000); (2) Lab technician call-back (minimum two hours at $90); (3) Paramedic overtime (by the minute at $49/hour); and (4) Cost of charter aircraft wait time ($200 per hour) for every hour beyond four hours.Results:Data were collected on 46 ventilated patients over a three month period. A blood gas analysis was ordered on 35 patients. Laboratory technicians were called in for 17 (49%). For 12 (34%) patients, there was a wait for the sample to be drawn, and for 23 (66%), there was a wait for results to become available. Total time waiting to obtain laboratory gases was 526 minutes compared with a calculated 105 minutes using point-of-care testing. An iSTAT cartridge cost of $420 would not have been different from laboratory costs. Cost-saving on technician callback ($1,530), paramedic overtime ($690) and aircraft time waiting charges ($2,000) would have totaled ($4,220). From this study, the cost of point-of-care equipment could be recouped in 101 patients if aircraft charges apply or 192 patients if no aircraft costs are involved. For 11 cases, ventilator adjustments were made subsequently during transport, and for six patients, point-of-care testing, if in place, would have been used to optimize transport care.Conclusion:The data from the present study indicate significant cost-efficacy from use of this technology to reduce stabilization times, and support the potential to improve quality of care during air medical interfacility transport.

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Carraro

The decentralization of analysis at the emergency room is a well-established practice, in particular for the use of blood gas analysis. Recently, many other analyzers have been proposed, with rapid methods that can potentially reduce the response time of the tests. Here we consider the various analyzers that can be used at the bedside, their advantages and limits, the related scientific evidences. Finally, we discuss their impact both on patient care and on accelerating the patient’s flow in the emergency room.


2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (S2) ◽  
pp. S105-S105
Author(s):  
Kyle Stevens ◽  
Greg Grant ◽  
Andrew J Macnab ◽  
Faith Gagnon ◽  
Robert Noble ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 144 (10) ◽  
pp. 1209-1216
Author(s):  
Ana Laila Qasem Moreno ◽  
Paloma Oliver Sáez ◽  
Pilar Fernández Calle ◽  
Gloria del Peso Gilsanz ◽  
Sara Afonso Ramos ◽  
...  

Context.— Point-of-care testing allows rapid analysis and short turnaround times. To the best of our knowledge, the present study assesses, for the first time, clinical, operative, and economic outcomes of point-of-care blood gas analysis in a nephrology department. Objective.— To evaluate the impact after implementing blood gas analysis in the nephrology department, considering clinical (differences in blood gas analysis results, critical results), operative (turnaround time, elapsed time between consecutive blood gas analysis, preanalytical errors), and economic (total cost per process) outcomes. Design.— A total amount of 3195 venous blood gas analyses from 688 patients of the nephrology department before and after point-of-care blood gas analyzer installation were included. Blood gas analysis results obtained by ABL90 FLEX PLUS were acquired from the laboratory information system. Statistical analyses were performed using SAS 9.3 software. Results.— During the point-of-care testing period, there was an increase in blood glucose levels and a decrease in pCO2, lactate, and sodium as well as fewer critical values (especially glucose and lactate). The turnaround time and the mean elapsed time were shorter. By the beginning of this period, the number of preanalytical errors increased; however, no statistically significant differences were found during year-long monitoring. Although there was an increase in the total number of blood gas analysis requests, the total cost per process decreased. Conclusions.— The implementation of a point-of-care blood gas analysis in a nephrology department has a positive impact on clinical, operative, and economic terms of patient care.


1994 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Wong ◽  
J J Mahoney ◽  
J A Harvey ◽  
A L Van Kessel

Abstract We evaluated a new portable instrument, the PPG StatPal II pH and Blood Gas Analysis System, designed for "point-of-care" measurements of blood gases and pH. Inaccuracy (% of target value) and imprecision (CV%) were assessed by blood tonometry and comparison with a Corning 178. Within-day results for PCO2 inaccuracy and imprecision ranged from 98.2% to 102.9% and 3.3% to 3.9%, respectively; for PO2, these were 95.5% to 102.3% and 2.3% to 3.0%, respectively. Between-day results for PCO2 inaccuracy and imprecision ranged from 99.2% to 99.3% and from 2.9% to 3.2%, respectively; for PO2, the ranges were 96.2% to 98.2% and 2.6% to 3.0%, respectively. Two PCO2 outliers (in 645 samples = 0.3%) were observed. In general, tonometry recovery, measurement stability, and pH bias results for the StatPal II and Corning 178 were comparable. We conclude that the StatPal II performs within acceptable ranges of inaccuracy and imprecision.


Author(s):  
Lukasz Krzych ◽  
Olga Wojnarowicz ◽  
Paweł Ignacy ◽  
Julia Dorniak

Introduction. Reliable results of an arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis are crucial for the implementation of appropriate diagnostics and therapy. We aimed to investigate the differences (Δ) between ABG parameters obtained from point-of-care testing (POCT) and central laboratory (CL) measurements, taking into account the turnaround time (TAT). Materials and methods. A number of 208 paired samples were collected from 54 intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Analyses were performed using Siemens RAPIDPoint 500 Blood Gas System on the samples just after blood retrieval at the ICU and after delivery to the CL. Results. The median TAT was 56 minutes (IQR 39-74). Differences were found for all ABG parameters. Median Δs for acid-base balance ere: ΔpH=0.006 (IQR –0.0070–0.0195), ΔBEef=–0.9 (IQR –2.0–0.4) and HCO3–act=–1.05 (IQR –2.25–0.35). For ventilatory parameters they were: ΔpO2=–8.3 mmHg (IQR –20.9–0.8) and ΔpCO2=–2.2 mmHg (IQR –4.2––0.4). For electrolytes balance the differences were: ΔNa+=1.55 mM/L (IQR 0.10–2.85), ΔK+=–0.120 mM/L (IQR –0.295–0.135) and ΔCl–=1.0 mM/L (IQR –1.0–3.0). Although the Δs might have caused misdiagnosis in 51 samples, Bland-Altman analysis revealed that only for pO2 the difference was of clinical significance (mean: –10.1 mmHg, ±1.96SD –58.5; +38.3). There was an important correlation between TAT and ΔpH (R=0.45, p<0.01) with the safest time delay for proper assessment being less than 39 minutes. Conclusions. Differences between POCT and CL results in ABG analysis may be clinically important and cause misdiagnosis, especially for pO2. POCT should be advised for ABG analysis due to the impact of TAT, which seems to be the most important for the analysis of pH.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-172
Author(s):  
Gian Luca Salvagno ◽  
Davide Demonte ◽  
Giuseppe Lippi

A 51-year old male patient was admitted to the hospital with acute dyspnea and history of chronic asthma. Venous blood was drawn into a 3.0 mL heparinized syringe and delivered to the laboratory for blood gas analysis (GEM Premier 4000, Instrumentation Laboratory), which revealed high potassium value (5.2 mmol/L; reference range on whole blood, 3.5-4.5 mmol/L). This result was unexpected, so that a second venous blood sample was immediately drawn by direct venipuncture into a 3.5 mL lithium-heparin blood tube, and delivered to the laboratory for repeating potassium testing on Cobas 8000 (Roche Diagnostics). The analysis revealed normal plasma potassium (4.6 mmol/L; reference range in plasma, 3.5-5.0 mmol/L) and haemolysis index (5; 0.05 g/L). Due to suspicion of spurious haemolysis, heparinized blood was transferred from syringe into a plastic tube and centrifuged. Potassium and haemolysis index were then measured in this heparinized plasma, confirming high haemolysis index (50; 0.5 g/L) and pseudohyperkalemia (5.5 mmol/L). Investigation of this case revealed that spurious haemolysis was attributable to syringe delivery in direct ice contact for ~15 min. This case emphasizes the importance of avoiding sample transportation in ice and the need of developing point of care analysers equipped with interference indices assessment.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
P. Fantinato-Neto ◽  
A. T. Zanluchi ◽  
M. M. Yasuoka ◽  
F. J. M. Marchese ◽  
J. R. V. Pimentel ◽  
...  

Offspring derived from artificial reproductive techniques are already known to present several postnatal undesirable phenotypes and clinical disorders. Despite its benefits, cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is extremely inefficient. The birth rate in cattle is around 5% of the transferred blastocysts, and ~50% of delivered calves die in the first 48 h. Neonatal respiratory distress is reported to be one of the main causes of such deaths. Veterinary intervention is often needed to promote or improve blood oxygenation, avoiding respiratory acidosis and improving carbon dioxide delivery from blood/lungs to the environment. This study aimed to evaluate a neonatal support therapy over the blood gas and acid-base balance on newborn calves derived from SCNT or AI. Four cloned and 3 AI-derived calves delivered by Caesarean section were used for the experiment. Postnatal therapeutic procedures were comprised 4 doses of 400 mg of intratracheal surfactant every 15 min, 25 mg of oral sildenafil every 8 h for 3 days, and 5 L min–1 intranasal oxygen. Blood collections were performed within 30 min (T0), at 12 (T12), 24 (T24) and 48 (T48) hours after delivery. Blood samples were collected from the caudal auricular artery with a butterfly and a blood gas syringe. Oxygen saturation (sO2), arterial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and carbon dioxide (PaCO2), pH, and bicarbonate (HCO3–) were evaluated with a portable blood gas analyzer (i-STAT, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Princeton, NJ, USA). Data obtained were submitted to ANOVA (Proc MIXED; SAS/STAT, version 9; SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). There were significant differences between groups in blood pH (P = 0.0182) and between groups (P = 0.0281) and time of collection (P = 0.0303) in blood bicarbonate (HCO3–). The AI calves were born with normal pH (7.468 ± 0.033) and the cloned calves were born in acidosis (7.216 ± 0.166). These calves were stabilised in T48 (7.427 ± 0.017) using their own HCO3– that increased over time. Although there were no differences in sO2 (P = 0.4525), PaO2 (P = 0.3086), or PaCO2 (P = 0.2514), sO2 and PaO2 were numerically increased at the same time that PaCO2 decreased in both groups. In the cloned calves, the sO2, PaO2, and PaCO2 at T0 were 61.3 ± 28.6%, 39.8 ± 18.5 mmHg, and 65.8 ± 29.3 mmHg, respectively and reached 90.0 ± 3.4%, 57.7 ± 15.8 mmHg, and 42.0 ± 3.7 mmHg. In the AI calves, T0 blood gas analysis were 79.8 ± 19.4%, 56.1 ± 42.1 mmHg, and 39.1 ± 4.8 mmHg, and at T48 were 89.0 ± 2.6%, 82.3 ± 43.5 mmHg, and 43.0 ± 4.9 mmHg for sO2, PaO2, and PaCO2 respectively. The neonate support therapy improved calves' oxygenation and helped to eliminate the carbon dioxide from the blood. In our experience, the neonatal treatment was essential in supporting the lives of the cloned calves.Funding support was received from FAPESP 2011/19543–9.


2018 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 335-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher T Lewis ◽  
W L Malein ◽  
I Chesner ◽  
S Clarke

IntroductionMeasurement of physiological parameters in extreme environments is essential to advancing knowledge, prophylaxis and treatment of altitude sickness. Point-of-care testing facilitates investigation in non-specialist and remote settings, as well as becoming increasingly popular at the bedside for real-time results in the clinical environment. Arterialised capillary earlobe blood gases are recommended as a valid alternative to arterial sampling in research. This study aimed to test the feasibility of obtaining and analysing daily earlobe samples at high altitude.MethodsFrom 17 to 24 January 2016, 24 participants on a research expedition to Ecuador underwent daily earlobe blood gas measurements including pH, partial pressure of oxygen and partial pressure of carbon dioxide to 5043 m. Samples were analysed using an Abbott i-STAT blood gas analyser and G3+ cartridges.ResultsDaily measurements were successfully obtained and analysed at the point of care in 23/24 participants and were well tolerated with no adverse events. 12% (27/220) cartridges failed and required repeat sampling.ConclusionsDaily earlobe blood gas analysis using the Abbott i-STAT is feasible in a protected environment at high altitude. Participants and equipment should be kept warm before and during testing. Spare cartridges should be available. This methodology may be useful for both research and therapeutic measurements in remote, rural and wilderness medicine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 193-195
Author(s):  
Martin Möckel ◽  
Peter B. Luppa

Abstract Blood gas analysis at or near the patient’s bedside is a common practice in acute medicine and plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and management of patient’s respiratory status, metabolites, electrolytes, co-oximetry and acid–base balance. Pre-analytical quality aspects of the specimens are getting more and more attention, including the presence of potential interferences. Central laboratories have implemented technologies to detect interferences such as hemolysis, lipidemia or hyperbilirubinemia in blood samples to ensure the highest possible quality in results provided to routine care. However, systematic detection for interference due to hemolysis is currently not in place for blood gas analysis at the point-of-care (POC). To apply hemolysis detection solutions at the central laboratory, but not at the POC for blood gas analysis, is a clear contradiction when novel hemolysis detecting technologies are available. The introduction of a system that systematically detects hemolysis in connection to POC blood gas analysis would be imperative to patient safety and costs associated with potential clinical malpractice (leading to wrong, missing and/or delayed treatment) and would also ensure better compliance to CLSI guidelines and ISO standards, and be beneficial for patient and staff.


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