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Articles and journal scans about Point-of-care testing
Article
December 2002
The role of training, competency assessment, and continuing education
In a 1999 study, the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded that 44,000 to 98,000 hospitalized Americans die each year from preventable medical errors.
While the number of serious medical errors attributable to point of care (point-of-care testing, POCT) is not known, the testing environment (patient bedside) and...
Process optimization
Point-of-care testing
Glucose
Article
October 2002
Evidence-based medicine and point-of-care testing
Point-of-care testing provides rapid laboratory diagnostics close to the site of care. Quality assurance of POCT, however, requires significant resources that should be matched with improved patient outcome and benefit. Application of evidence-based medicine to POCT can critically assess the medical effectiveness of...
Point-of-care testing
Article
October 2002
Paperless inspections no longer a dream
Preparing for an accreditation inspection is often synonymous with carts full of paper. For some labs, though, the paper hassle associated with accreditation is now history. These labs are letting their data management systems do all the work.
Information management
Blood gases/acid-base
Point-of-care testing
Article
October 2002
The invention and development of the blood gas analysis apparatus
John Severinghaus, who recently turned 80, is one of the pioneers in the field of blood gas. To celebrate his birthday, bloodgas.org has asked him to look back on the first developments leading to the modern blood gas analyzers.
The following article has also been published in Anesthesiology, The Journal of the...
Point-of-care testing
Blood gases/acid-base
Glucose
Lactate
Hemoglobins
Article
June 2002
STAT testing in the neonate
Babies are not small adults! The potential for abnormal adaptation to life outside of the womb, changes in physiology, and a myriad of possible life-threatening clinical conditions requires an understanding of the laboratory tests needed to support these infants.
To effectively handle the unique needs of these...
Point-of-care testing
Neonatology
Glucose
Creatinine/urea
Hemoglobins
Article
June 2002
Key elements in a successful pediatric laboratory
Children are not just small adults, and present unique challenges to the clinical laboratory. Blood specimens must be very small; for example, total blood volumes in a premature infant can be as small as 115 mL. Genetic diseases frequently must be detected in the newborn period. Reference values change with age....
Neonatology
Blood gases/acid-base
Point-of-care testing
Preanalytical phase
Glucose
Hemoglobins
Article
December 2000
Myocardinal oxygen extraction after two months of adaptation to high altitude
Two months of acclimatization to high altitude leads to an adaptation of the aerobic capacity of the myocardium, characterized by an increased ability to extract O2 from the coronary vascular bed. An increased mitochondrial volume and activity of oxidative enzymes or improved diffusion conditions could be involved.
Point-of-care testing
Blood gases/acid-base
Lactate
Hemoglobins
Article
June 2000
Laboratory supervision of point-of-care blood gas
Providing continuous technical support and reliable test data collection for point-of-care blood gas testing is a difficult task for many laboratories. Here we describe how the implementation of an integrated instrument control and data management system for point-of-care blood gas testing has streamlined these...
Point-of-care testing
Glucose
Lactate
Hemoglobins
Article
December 1999
Management of point-of-care testing
Point-of-care testing (POCT) is a delivery option for performing laboratory testing closer to the patient. Due to increasing healthcare pressures for faster turnaround of laboratory results and the development of a broader menu of testing devices, POCT is growing in popularity. Devices today are more portable,...
Point-of-care testing
Glucose
Hemoglobins
Article
December 1999
Point-of-care testing for blood gases and electrolytes
The pro-con debate on the advisability of introducing POCT deals with the likely clinical benefits but – to an even higher degree – with the economic aspects. We discuss various models for determining the costs, and some caveats.
Blood gases/acid-base
Electrolytes
Point-of-care testing
Glucose