Impact of a satellite laboratory on turnaround times for the emergency department.

Background: Prolonged laboratory turnaround time (TAT) contributes to prolonged length of stay in emergency departments (EDs). The TAT of laboratory test results is a common key performance indicator by which clinicians and regulatory bodies evaluate laboratory performance. Establishing satellite laboratories in EDs staffed by laboratory technologists is one approach towards reducing TAT.

Implementing the Stockholm Conference hierarchy of objective quality criteria in a routine laboratory.

Background: Analytical performance of clinical laboratory testing should be evaluated against objective quality specifications. The Stockholm Conference consensus recommendation states that from a hierarchy of quality models, the highest-ranking model should be used. This study reports the performance of a routine clinical laboratory using these quality recommendations.

Thyroid function abnormalities and antithyroid antibody prevalence in pregnant women at high risk for gestational diabetes mellitus.

Both gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy compromise maternal and fetal health. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of abnormal thyroid function and antithyroid antibodies during early pregnancy in a population at high risk for GDM. Serum free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured in 301 pregnant women who underwent routine 'universal screening' for GDM.

HbA1c: a comparison of NGSP with IFCC transformed values.

Background: An approved IFCC reference method for measuring HbA1c, with a firm and reproducible correlation with NGSP values, is now available. We established (i) the degree of agreement of HbA1c results between the NGSP-certified and the IFCC-calibrated (converted to NGSP values) immunochemical method and (ii) the difference in the classification of control of diabetes mellitus (DM) in individual patients between the methods.

Methods: HbA1c was measured on the same hemolysate from each patient by both methods (n=92).

Evaluation of a glucose meter against analytical quality specifications for hospital use.

Background: The value of glucose meters in point of care testing (POCT) by medical professionals and self monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) by patients is well established. We evaluated the SureSteppFlexx glucose meter against objective targets for imprecision and total error (TE).

Methods: The SureStepFlexx blood glucose system uses a reflectance-based glucose oxidase (GO) method and reports plasma-equivalent glucose values.