Thermal stress and point-of-care testing performance: suitability of glucose test strips and blood gas cartridges for disaster response.

Objective: Point-of-care testing (POCT) devices are deployed in the field for emergency on-site testing under a wide range of environmental conditions. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of glucose meter test strips and handheld blood gas analyzer cartridges following thermal stresses that simulate field conditions.

Methods: We evaluated electrochemical and spectrophotometric glucose meter systems and a handheld blood gas analyzer.