Featured Article Blood Gas Analyzer Changeover Helps Improve Quality of Care and Workflow at a Large Urban Respiratory Care Center Shelly Brown, MBA, RRT-NPS, NCTTP, Baptist Health Medical Center Candi Curtis, BS, RRT, Baptist Health Medical Center Niccolo Dosto, MHS, Boston Strategic Partners Halit O. Yapici, MD, MBA, MPH, Boston Strategic Partners
Background Critical care settings such as respiratory centers and trauma wards often rely on quick, accurate tools to help providers make appropriate clinical decisions. Blood gas analyzers are essential in high-volume medical units since they rapidly measure key parameters, including carbon dioxide, oxygen, acidity, and multiple metabolites/electrolytes (e.g., glucose, calcium,and potassium)1. These measurements give clinicians crucial data for diagnosis and treatment. For instance, combinations of blood gas, pH, electrolyte, and metabolite readings are used in respiratory centers to evaluate oxygen delivery efficiency and the presence of a respiratory, metabolic, or kidney disorder1. Laboratory assays have long been considered the gold standard for blood gas analysis. However, core lab equipment is often bulky and takes longer to provide results due to transport time associated with moving samples from medical units to the lab. Handheld and benchtop point-of-care (POC) devices have thus been developed to analyze samples on-site in various medical settings for rapid management and treatment of patients2. The accuracy of POC analyzers is comparable to standard hospital lab equipment. A cross-sectional study comparing arterial blood readings from lab assays and a handheld POC device found statistically similar results when testing for pH, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and lactate levels3. Modern POC devices can also perform oximetric analyses and detect carboxyhemoglobin and total hemoglobin concentrations2. POC devices are commonly used in fast-paced clinical settings, making them particularly prone to testing errors that lead to adverse patient outcomes4. Blood gas analysis requires an invasive procedure to obtain arterial blood; thus, the need for additional needle sticks can be highly unpleasant for the patient and should be avoided. The effect is more severe for older patients or
Volume 10/Issue 1
Healthcare Value Analysis & Utilization Management Magazine
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