POCT Analysts' Perspective: Practices and Wants for Improvement.

Background: Point-of-care testing (POCT) continues to expand worldwide. Concerns remain about result quality despite guidelines and standards that specify testing practices. To better understand POCT testing worldwide, we polled analysts to obtain their views on actual practices and needs for improvement.

The clinical usefulness of glucose tolerance testing in gestational diabetes to predict early postpartum diabetes mellitus.

We examined the clinical usefulness of antepartum clinical characteristics, along with measures of glucose tolerance, in Dutch multiethnic women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) for their ability to predict type 2 diabetes within 6 months of delivery (early postpartum diabetes). The present study comprised a cross-sectional 5-year investigation (1998-2003) of a consecutive series of 168 women with GDM identified by a two-stage protocol at 16-33 weeks of gestation. The following data were collected for all women: age and gestational age at entry into the study; prepregnancy body mass index (BMI); ethnicity; obstetric and clinical history, including the onset of early postpartum diabetes; pregnancy outcome; level of fasting C-peptide; and glycemic parameters of 50-g 1-h glucose challenge test and 100-g 3-h oral glucose tolerance test (diagnostic OGTT).

The NEXUS vision: an alternative to the reference value concept.

In Lundberg's brain-to-brain turnaround time loop, the postanalytical phase is undoubtedly one of the most difficult phases. Of course, error prolongation can cause serious problems when quality is not sufficiently assessed and assured in the preanalytical and analytical phases. However, in the postanalytical phase following reporting, interpretation and action are at stake; and with this the wellbeing of the patient.

Application of computer simulation analysis to assess the effects of relocating a hospital phlebotomy department.

Background: This study describes a systematic approach to assess the effects of relocating a hospital department.

Methods: Using the phlebotomy service as an example, computer simulation was applied to predict changes in performance indicators, such as patient turn-around time (TAT), when planning a procedural and/or architectural redesign.

Results: Average patient TAT fell from 12 to 8 min, enabling the department to cope with any increase in numbers of patients.

Association between antidepressant drug use and hyponatraemia: a case-control study.

Aims: To estimate the risk of, and risk factors for, hyponatraemia associated with the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) compared with the use of other antidepressant drugs.

Methods: A case-control study of psychiatric in- and out-patients on antidepressant drugs performed in the mid-southern part of The Netherlands over a 2 year period. Cases (n=29) were all using antidepressant drugs with a serum sodium concentration of < or = 130 mmol l(-1) while controls (n=78) were patients on antidepressants with a normal sodium concentration (136-144 mmol l(-1)).

Turn-around time for chemical and endocrinology analyzers studied using simulation.

Simulation can be a means for the laboratory management to investigate the effects of proposed changes in the laboratory. Also, when specifications of analyzers are available one can investigate which analyzer should be purchased to fulfill existing needs. The potential of simulation is shown here by simulating the turn-around time of batched samples under several conditions.