Neonates are subject to more preanalytical influences than any other population group. Many of these are related to the maturity of the infant and its adaptation to extra-uterine life. The necessary need for capillary blood collection and processing of small quantities of blood introduce additional preanalytical...

While analytical quality standards seem well established, there has been a paucity in the development of such standards for the preanalytical phase.  Technical recommendations regarding sampling, transport, and identification have been developed in national (NCCLS, DIN) and international (IFCC, ISO) consensus...

What quality is being controlled in laboratories today?  The definition of a quality requirement for each laboratory test is the starting point of quantitative quality management. Different types of requirements may be used as long as there are appropriate quality-planning models for translating those requirements...

How do small labs cope with the demands of modern quality assurance? In this interview, Ruth Lock, head of the laboratory of the Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Dept. of the Copenhagen County Hospital in Glostrup, Denmark, tells how her lab keeps up with demands with the help of training and quality control.

The results of laboratory tests are used in many clinical settings. In the main, results obtained in point-of-care testing (POCT) are used either in monitoring or in diagnosis. Analytical quality does affect outcomes in these clinical situations. Numerical estimates of the quality required for laboratory tests to...

Whether performed by one "traditional" or several "point-of-care" devices, all Multi-Profile Blood Gas (MPBG) results must be accurate and precise if they are to be effective in managing critically ill patients. Optimal analytical quality control of multi-profile blood gas analysis requires a good quality assurance...

An altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level or just above is just about what humans can bear - be it during an acute ascent or for permanent living. This study describes how bodily functions of crucial importance to survival at high altitude adjust after abrupt exposure to severe hypoxia.

Examination of peripheral pulses and peripheral blood pressures are commonly used methods for investigation of macrocirculation. However, falsely elevated peripheral blood pressures may complicate the accurate prediction of ulcer healing in diabetic patients.  Because tcpO₂ also measures the nutritive skin capillary...

The pro-con debate on the advisability of introducing POCT deals with the likely clinical benefits but – to an even higher degree – with the economic aspects. We discuss various models for determining the costs, and some caveats.

The possibility of continuously monitoring arterial blood oxygen and carbon dioxide using heated surface electrodes on human skin was discovered in the early 1970s and made commercially available by 1976.  These devices were applied initially to premature infants in an effort to reduce the incidence of blindness due...