Implementation of an integrated instrument control and data management system for point of care blood gas testing

Critical care testing in a point of care (POC) setting can be Very demandin g for the laboratory. Lack of continuous monitoring of the normal functioni ng of POC instruments leads to late response to technical problems, and fre quently results in more comprehensive interventions and reduced instrument availability As most POC instruments lack adequate date transfer capabiliti es, manual data entry into the medical records with a high error rate is a component of POC programs. To reduce this data handling drawback of POC tes ting, our hospital opted for the replacement of the existing analysers with network-ready, expandable analysers (ABL700), linked to an integrated mana gement system (RADIANCE). This new set-up enabled us to have continuous ins trument control and maximal data management. The implementation of the inte grated management system was well accepted by the operators. The network co nnectivity has led to real time technical support while reducing the worklo ad by automating data collection. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.