As healthcare seeks to provide better care with fewer resources, Point-of-Care Testing steps in to move key diagnostic or screening tests to the patient’s bedside. The results can have a significant impact on a patient outcome and operational costs.

The following is a copy of an article from Nursing 2007, Fall 2007 Volume 37 Number 8 - Supplement: ED Insider, Pages 14 - 16 The D-dimer level is a measure of clot formation and lysis that results from the degradation of cross-linked fibrin. Widely used as an indicator for the presence of disseminated intravascular ...

Over the years, as clinicians have learned how to utilize it, permissive hypercapnia has been finding a place in healthcare. However, it is important to bear in mind that numbers do not tell the entire story. It is imperative to understand the entire clinical picture before you act. For example, an acidic pH of 7.21...

PURPOSE – The purpose of this article is to discuss lean as a learning system in a hospital ward. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – Discusses lean as a learning system in a hospital ward. FINDINGS – The Toyota veterans are fond of saying, lean is about “making people before making parts” or, in the wards’ context,...

The following is a copy of an article from Evidence-Based Practice, 2007; 10(12):1-2. Venous thromboembolism refers to a spectrum of disease that includes both pulmonary embolus and deep-venous thrombosis (DVT). More than 250,000 people in the United States are diagnosed annually with venous thromboembolic disease;...

BACKGROUND: Besides actual pH, base excess (ctH⁺_B (mmol/L)) is of major importance since it is meant to reflect lactate acidosis due to fetal hypoxia; in vivo BE_B is not independent from pCO₂. Independence is achieved by using the extended extracellular fluid (Ecf) for dilution of hemoglobin (cHb_B), reducing cHb_B to ...

Some of the frequently asked questions are: Should we use BE (base excess) or SID (strong ion difference) as a measure of a metabolic acid-base disturbance?  Is there any difference between BB (buffer base) and SID? Should we use SBE (standard base excess), i.e. BE referring to the expanded extracellular fluid or...

CONTEXT: Sensitive D-dimer assays have been developed to exclude the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and have exhibited great success when used in conjunction with a diagnostic algorithm, including pretest probability scoring and a compression ultrasound (CUS). Improving specificity of D-dimer assays would...

PURPOSE – The purpose of this paper is to show how over the last 18 months Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust have been exploring whether or not lean methodologies, often known as the Toyota Production System, can indeed be applied to healthcare. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – This paper is a viewpoint. FINDINGS – One’s...

Tight glycemic control (TGC) in the intensive care unit is essential to comprehensive clinical management.  However, TGC that is too aggressive in the wrong patient populations (particularly non-diabetics) can result in hypoglycemia, which brings with it a set of sequelae that can increase morbidity and mortality....