Evaluation of a Portable Clinical Blood Analyzer in the Emergency Department

Objective: To assess the potential effects of rapid bedside blood analysis on patient management in the ED.
Methods: A prospective, nonrandomized clinical study was conducted over a consecutive ten-month period (August 1992 to May 1993). Blood samples drawn from a convenience sample of 960 patients for analysis of Na ⁺, K ⁺, Cl^-, BUN, glucose, and/or hematocrit (Hct) were simultaneously analyzed by portable clinical analyzer (PCA) and by routine methods in the central laboratory. Caregivers were blinded to the PCA values; patient care was based solely on central laboratory results. Physicians were surveyed after the completion of patient care.
Results: The PCA results were available 31 minutes (mean) sooner than were the central laboratory results for Hct, 43 minutes faster for Na ⁺, K⁺, and Cl^-, and 44 minutes faster for BUN and glucose. Except for Hct and glucose, the values obtained from the PCA were not significantly different from the central clinical blood analyzer laboratory values. When surveyed, the physicians caring for the patients reported that had the PCA results been available, a different or an earlier therapeutic approach would have resulted in 9.5% of the cases. The decision to release or admit the patient was based on one or more of the laboratory values for 10.7% of patients sampled. In no case in this series did a physician report that final ED clinical outcome would have been affected.
Conclusions: In our ED, the PCA yielded faster reporting of laboratory values. These earlier results might have reduced the length of stay in the ED for 17.3% of patients studied. Selective use of a handheld portable analyzer might decrease time to therapeutic interventions and time to disposition.