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Articles and journal scans about Quality assurance
Article
July 2015
POCT: Taking control in uncontrolled premises
With the ultimate goal of improving patient care, adoption of point-of-care testing (POCT) continues to grow at a high rate. The ability to deliver fast and reliable results near the patient is a key driver for improving patient outcomes and optimizing clinical workflow.
While there are many advantages, controlling...
Point-of-care testing
Process optimization
Quality assurance
Glucose
Hemoglobins
Article
April 2015
Evolution of pathology services with point-of-care testing in Cornwall
This article first appeared in Pathology in Practice (Hobba H, Silver L. Evolution of POC testing. Pathology in Practice 2013; 14 [2]: 63) and is reproduced here by kind permission (www.pathologyinpractice.com). © 2013 kdm communications limited
Point-of-care (POC) testing has allowed the pathology department in...
Process optimization
Point-of-care testing
Quality assurance
Information management
D-dimer
Troponins
CRP
Journal Scan
October 2014
Critical lab results – do they need to be repeated before reporting?
It is mandated that clinical laboratory staff should identify patient results that are grossly abnormal and have critical significance, so that clinical care staff can be informed immediately. Most laboratories have a policy of repeating the analysis before reporting such critical values in order to confirm that the...
Quality assurance
Article
October 2014
Keeping a tight lid on operator and competency management in point-of-care testing
Point-of-care pathology testing is becoming increasingly common in hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices; anywhere where time is critical and results are required at the patient’s side.
However, results must be accurate and reproducible to be meaningful, and it is imperative that a close eye is kept on...
Process optimization
Point-of-care testing
Quality assurance
Information management
Glucose
Journal Scan
May 2014
Venous versus arterial blood for blood gas analysis – revisited
Arterial blood is the “gold standard” sample for blood gas analysis. Compared with venous blood sampling, arterial blood sampling is technically more difficult as well as being more painful and hazardous to the patient. These are among the considerations that drive the continuing research interest in establishing...
Blood gases/acid-base
Preanalytical phase
Quality assurance
Journal Scan
January 2014
Reference range (interval) for serum creatinine
Routine laboratory assessment of renal function depends on estimating glomerular filtration rate from serum creatinine concentration. Serum creatinine concentration is age- and gender-dependent. A recently published study aimed to establish age-stratified and gender-specific reference intervals for serum creatinine...
Creatinine/urea
Quality assurance
Journal Scan
October 2013
Arterial versus venous lactate
Blood lactate concentration, a parameter often available at the point of care on blood gas analyzers, is useful for assessment of global tissue oxygenation among acutely/critically ill patients. The ”gold standard” sample for this assessment, as for blood gas analysis, is arterial blood.
Sampling of venous blood is...
Lactate
Quality assurance
Article
October 2013
Optimizing blood gas testing
Article reprinted with permission from NP Communications LLC/Medical Laboratory Observer, September 2013.
Laboratorians responsible for arterial blood gas testing are focusing on sample integrity, operator safety, data accuracy, and workflow efficiency.
Process optimization
Point-of-care testing
Quality assurance
Blood gases/acid-base
Article
September 2013
Developing quality control strategies based on risk management: The CLSI EP23 guideline
How do errors occur in the laboratory and what can we do to prevent errors?
Any test can and will fail if incorrectly performed or operated under the wrong conditions. The role of the laboratory director is to determine those conditions and to understand test limitations in order to prevent laboratory errors....
Point-of-care testing
Quality assurance
Hemoglobins
D-dimer
Troponins
Journal Scan
April 2013
Red-cell transfusion for the critically ill – is fresh best?
Anemia is a common feature of critical illness and roughly a third of all patients being cared for in intensive care units are given red-cell transfusion. Although such transfusions are unequivocally lifesaving for some patients, e.g. the exsanguinating trauma victim, the benefit is less clear-cut for others.
There...
Process optimization
Quality assurance