POINT OF CARE TE S T ING


main laboratory and is not in competition with traditional pathology diagnostics. Appropriate treatment, discharge planning and follow-up can then be made with senior decision makers’ involvement and assessment at the first point of contact; this is facilitated by timely diagnostic results.


Expanding point of care testing As part of the expansion of POCT capabilities, BHRUT acquired four new ABL90 Flex Plus blood gas analysers and two new AQT90 Flex immunoassay analysers from Radiometer. The ABL90 Flex Plus blood gas analyser


measures urea and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) on very small sample volumes, which helps in the stratification of patients with suspected gastrointestinal bleeding, respiratory infections or dehydration. Additionally, it is one of the few POCT instruments on the market that can also measure creatinine. It is important for


the ED department to have this capability as it allows patients to be triaged more quickly. The AQT90 Flex analyser also measures troponins, D-dimer and CRP. Having all three of these measurements has been a real game- changer for the department.


High standards of care Radiometer’s blood gas analysers and immunoassay analysers have been in use in the ED at Queen’s Hospital, since March 2018. In this year alone, the department saw a 6% increase in patient numbers – and the increase in POCT capabilities has


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OCTOBER 2020


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