PH and blood gas analysis have a significant and immediate impact on patient care. Blood gas analyzers are often integrated into point-of-care testing (POCT) because PH and blood gas analysis has a significant and immediate impact on patient care. In addition, point-of-care testing is very useful as it reduces pre-analytical errors. According to a study published in the Practical Laboratory Medicine journal, clinical biochemists at the Clermont-Ferrand Teaching Hospital conducted a Complete Method validation of 12 analyzers for POCT. The study concluded that the results met standard requirements and the 12 analyzers were accessed as suitable for point of care testing in services of academic medical centers.
For their research, clinical chemists deployed twelve GEM PREMIER 4000 analyzers for pH, pCO2, pO2, Na+, K+, Cl-, Ca2+, lactate, hemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin (O2Hb) over 11 sites of the Clermont-Ferrand university teaching hospital system between February and June 2015. With these blood gas analyzers, proton concentration [H+] (for Hydrogen potential (pH)), partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), chloride (Cl-) and ionized calcium (Ca2+) levels are measured by potentiometry; partial pressure of O2 (pO2) and lactate are measured by amperometry; hemoglobin (Hb) and oxyhemoglobin (O2Hb) by optical absorbance.
These analyzers were assessed independently as soon as the cartridge was loaded and three internal quality control solutions (A B and D) were programmed for measurements at regular time intervals. The analyzers were also enrolled in an external quality assessment (EQA) program from ASQUALAB association (Paris, France). Uncertainty in measurement (UM) was evaluated with an approach using both reproducibility and accuracy data. Comparisons between these units were performed on 30 samples and between GEM analyzers and the central laboratory for Na+, K+, Cl-, Ca2+ and hemoglobin on 30 to 50 samples. While Na+, K+, Cl- and lactate were assayed on a Vista-type analyzer, Ca2+ was assayed on a Siemens RAPIDPoint 500 analyzer and Hb was assayed on an XN analyzer.
Based on the results, it was concluded that the 12 analyzers are suitable for point-of-care testing in services of academic medical centers.