Search

Introduction: Electrolytes have a narrow range of biological variation and small changes are clinically significant. It is important to select the best method for clinical decision making and patient monitoring in the emergency room. The sigma metrics model provides an objective method to evaluate the performance of a method. Aim: To calculate sigma metrics for electrolytes measured with one arterial blood gas analyser including two auto-analysers that use different technologies. To identify the best approach for electrolyte monitoring in an emergency setting and the context of routine emergency room workflow. Materials and Methods: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) was determined from Internal Quality Control (IQC). Data was measured from July 2015 to January 2016 for all three analysers. The records of KBUD external quality data (Association of Clinical Biochemists, Istanbul, Turkey) for both Mindray BS-2000M analyser (Mindray, Shenzhen, China) and Architect C16000 (Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, IL) and MLE clinical laboratory evaluation program (Washington, DC, USA) for Radiometer ABL 700 (Radiometer Trading, Copenhagen, Denmark) during the study period were used to determine the bias. Results: The calculated average sigma values for sodium (-1.1), potassium (3.3), and chloride (0.06) were with the Radiometer ABL700. All calculated sigma values were better than the autoanalysers. Conclusion: The sigma values obtained from all analysers suggest that running more controls and increasing the calibration frequency for electrolytes is necessary for quality assurance.

Introduction: Glucose meters are used routinely in hospital wards to manage blood glucose levels in patients requiring frequent monitoring of blood glucose. Objective: Our institution has 50 POC instruments utilized by diverse population of all ages and medical conditions. The primary objective of our study was to investigate whether all these CareSens glucose meters (I-sense Inc, Seoul, South Korea) results in hospitalized patients during routine clinical care jointly satisfy the specified quality specifications, as defined by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guideline POCT12-A3. Materials and Methods: The records of hospitalized patients who underwent simultaneous measures of glucose levels with both glucose meters and a central laboratory analyser between January and June 2013 were retrospectively analysed. We also performed a prospective evaluation of the accuracy of the CareSens glucose Strip. Results: Glucose concentrations measured in 840 patients ranged from 1.66 to 31.72 mmol/L The Bland–Altman difference plot between the auto analyser and all the 50 CareSens glucosemeters revealed a mean bias of -2.2%, with analytical biases for the two methods varying from −31.1% to 26.8%. Eighty four percent of the glucose meter's glucose values were within ± 12.5% for values 5.54 mmol/L of the comparative laboratory glucose values and 93% of the results were within 20% of the reference for glucose >4.2 mmol/L and 65% of the results were within 0.8 mmol/L for glucose