Point-of-care testing (POCT) is one of the most rapidly growing areas within laboratory medicine. The need for POCT has developed because in many cases the central laboratory has been unable to meet the expectations of clinical users, particularly with respect to turnaround time. It is widely recognized that...

Oxygen saturation can be obtained from many different types of devices. This range of choices causes some confusion as to definitions of measured variables and their clinical interpretation. This article gives some historical background and describes the two different ways saturation can be obtained from a blood gas ...

The understanding and management of ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) relationships represents a cornerstone of intensive care unit (ICU) patient management.  The physiologic shunt calculation can reliably reflect the degree of gas exchange attributable to intrapulmonary disease or intracardiac shunting regardless of other ...

Apgar scores and umbilical artery pH have traditionally been used as objective measures of neonatal asphyxia. According to the literature, the practice of cord gas analysis varies greatly both between and within countries - whether analysis is performed, whether it is routine at all births and why it is performed...

Numerous method comparison studies of blood gas analyzer methods have been published in the literature; unfortunately, several studies show flaws in one or several aspects of experimental design, execution, statistical analysis or interpretation of results. The most common flaw seems to be an inability to separate...

Every POCT program today struggles with providing a solid program that is error free.  Each program must be designed to fit the needs of the organization, so having the right people in key positions is important. Additionally, training and competency programs are necessary so that each POCT operator understands the...

When it comes to acid base, there is no getting around the name of Ole Siggaard-Andersen (OSA). acutecaretesting.org talks to the world-renowned Danish professor, who has become a legend in the field of blood gas.

Measurement of glucose and lactate after 30 minutes of storage at room temperature can give deviating results of up to 5 % [1,2] and 29 % of the reference value [3] respectively [1,4], due to in vitro glycolysis Glucose and lactate are both important parameters in the surveillance of patients in critical care...

Minimizing costs? Quality assurance? Training? Simpler devices? acutecaretesting.org asked four healthcare professionals in Australia and New Zealand what they saw as the main challenges of POCT. Answers were broad in spectrum. Nevertheless, three challenges were (directly or indirectly) mentioned repeatedly:...

That is the question the Hvidovre Hospital had to ask itself in May 2003, when the Danish National Board of Health and the Copenhagen Hospital Corporation appointed it to be one of the country's three key sites for receiving and treating SARS patients. Once appointed, the hospital began a painstaking process of...