An assessment of quality control testing in an emergency department (ED) maintained arterial blood gas analyzer
Emergency medicine by its nature requires the immediacy of laboratory testing. Point of care testing (POCT) affords the ED the fastest access to important laboratory data. To the best of the authors' knowledge, maintenance of an arterial blood gas (ABG) analyzer as a POCT device by ED personnel has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy of POCT quality control testing of an ED maintained ABG Analyzer (Gem Premier)-Instrumentation Laboratory). METHODS: We compared comprehensive quality control data obtained when the ABG analyzer was maintained by the Department of Clinical Laboratories with data obtained from the same analyzer when it was maintained by ED attending physicians. Each parameter measured by the ABG analyzer was tested using unknown control samples supplied by the College of American Pathologists. These two groups of data were then compared to the total number of obtained values submitted to the College of American Pathologists. RESULTS: Each parameter measured (n = 7) showed no difference between the two groups in regard to overall pass rate. All values for the two groups fell within the limits of acceptability when compared to all other samples analyzed by the College of American Pathologists (range 159-208 other labs). CONCLUSIONS: ED attendings are capable of quality control maintenance of an ABG analyzer as a POCT device under the quality control testing parameters set forth by the College of American Pathologists.
O'Shaughnessy
P
Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY.
Emancipater
K
Hsu
C