Mock inspections are a great way to prepare for real-life inspections from regulatory agencies such as CAP and JCAHO. But where do you start? And most importantly, what should you look for? Lou Ann Wyer, Clinical Specialist, POCT at the Virginia-based Sentara Laboratory Services and Theresa Kulik, Point-of-care...

The principal function of the protein hemoglobin contained in red blood cells is transport of oxygen in inspired air from lungs to tissue cells. Although normally present in only trace amounts, there are three species of hemoglobin that cannot transport oxygen. The three species, collectively called the dyshemoglobins ...

What does it take to create and maintain a quality point-of-care program in a world-renowned healthcare institution? acutecaretesting.org recently asked that question to Paula Santrach, MD, Interim Chair of the Dept. of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic in the US. She came back with a list* of 10...

Hospital do Coração (HCor) in São Paolo, Brazil is a hospital for cardiac patients, many of whom are children and newborns. Cardiac patients are closely monitored with respect to acid base and blood gases, and even the newborns have several arterial and venous blood samples drawn daily. Dr Alberto Duarte from the...

How to implement improvements in hospital settings within a week Jens Weirsøe is one of Radiometer's most experienced Master Black Belts in Transactional Process Improvements (TPI or kaizen). He has facilitated 90 kaizen events in several countries (USA, Japan, Germany and Denmark), in several different industry...

The National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry has developed a Laboratory Medicine Practice Guideline for point-of-care testing (POCT). This POCT guideline systematically reviews the scientific literature linking POCT to patient outcome and makes recommendations for the optimal use of POCT in patient care.  This...

Reprinted with permission from British Journal of Nursing, 2004, Vol 13, No 9.  Arterial puncture is the most common method used to obtain a sample for the measurement of arterial blood gases (ABGs) and is essential to guide the prescription of long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in patients with chronic hypoxic lung...

In Geneva in 1821, a French nobleman Jacques Alexandre Le Jumeau, Vicomte de Kergaradec, became the pioneer of modern fetal monitoring. He described the sound of the fetal heartbeat, as he used the newly invented stethoscope (by Laennec, France 1819) and applied it to the abdominal wall of a pregnant woman [1]. The...

Although creatinine clearance has been the mainstay for estimating glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in laboratories for the past half-century, prediction equations based on serum creatinine and other routine serum analytes are now available which enable reporting of a calculated GFR using the Modification of Diet in...

The National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP) Laboratory Working Group reviewed problems related to serum creatinine measurement for estimating glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and prepared recommendations to standardize and improve creatinine measurement. The NKDEP recommends using the estimating equation...