With the use of a new Data Management System (DMS) software program [1], the majority of Point Of Care Testing (POCT) equipment throughout the Waikato District Health Board region has been connected to the Laboratory Information System (LIS) and the Hospital Information System (HIS). Prior to the new DMS, viewing...

It is estimated that a majority of all laboratory medicine errors are errors that occur during the preanalytical phase of the laboratory testing cycle. Such errors have a significant impact on patient safety, staff workload, and hospital costs.  Correctly identifying patients and avoiding specimen-labeling errors are...

There are few medical diagnoses that depend solely on the result of a single blood test, but diabetes mellitus, which is defined by concentration of circulating glucose, is one that does. Quite apart from its long established role in diagnosis as well as life-long monitoring of diabetes, measurement of circulating...

Modern analytical devices for testing biological fluids, such as blood, have now developed a sophistication that ensures the quality of the analytical result is capable of matching that achieved in the central laboratory.    Complementary developments are focused on reducing operator-related and connectivity-related...

Reprinted from AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CRITICAL CARE, November 2006, Volume 15, No 6, 595-599 Hudson TL, Dukes SF, Reilly K. Use of local anesthesia for arterial puncture. Copyright with permission from American Journal of Critical Care BACKGROUND Except for intravenous therapy, arterial access is the most common...

The integrity and function of all cells depend on an adequate supply of oxygen. Severe acute illness is frequently associated with inadequate tissue perfusion and/or reduced amount of oxygen in blood (hypoxemia) leading to tissue hypoxia.  If not reversed, tissue hypoxia can rapidly progress to multiorgan failure and ...

In 2005, acutecaretesting.org interviewed Dr Michael Astion, an active spokesperson for patient safety and reduction of lab errors, on the main issues surrounding the topic. Since then, a lot has changed… or has it? In a follow-up interview with Astion, acutecaretesting.org gauges the status of patient safety year...

Homeostatic mechanisms ensure that in health the extracellular fluid (ECF) concentration of electrolytes, including calcium, is maintained within well-defined limits. Abnormality in ECF calcium concentration can have profound adverse effects.  The most common means of assessing calcium status is to measure total...

This essay is a follow-up to the 2006 series expressing concern that there is a widespread gap between QC theory and QC practice. Now we are giving you, the reader, the opportunity to rate your own QC practice and to help prove or disprove that gap.  If the QC theories generally recommended by recognized QC experts ...

In most hospitals, the amount of nursing time spent on actual patient care is only 33 %, while problem solving consumes 40 % of their time. That’s the bad news. The good news is that inverting this ratio may be easier than you think.  According to Dr John Kenagy and David Sundahl of the US-based Kenagy & Associates,...