title: Real-World Experience With Three Point-of-Care Blood Analyzers in Deployed Environments.
abstract: Austere environments such as Africa pose clinical challenges, which are multiplied for Special Operations Forces (SOF) providers who must face these challenges with limited resources against the tyranny of distance. These limited resources apply not only to treatment tools but to diagnostic tools as well. Laboratory diagnostics may provide critical information in diagnosis, initial triage, and/or evacuation decisions, all of which may enhance a patient's survival. However, unlike in climate-controlled, fixed-facility hospitals, the deployed SOF provider must have access to a simple, reliable device for point-of-care testing (POCT) to obtain clinically meaningful data in a practical manner given the surroundings.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peffer
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ley
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wuelher
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: d'Andrea
authors.forename: Carissa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rittberg
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Losch
authors.forename: James H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lynch
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D014481:United States