Radiometer ABL90 and end-users

We have Anesthesia staff running ours (techs and MDs) but not nurses.  And it is a relatively small group.  Although use (patient testing) is fairly simple and straightforward, changing out supplies (sensor cassette/solution pack) requires some technical common sense so that supplies are not wasted (they are expensive).  In my opinion, that would be difficult to implement across a large group of people, with limited technical knowledge, who would not get a lot of repeat experience doing it.  I could envision very expensive supplies getting wasted in an effort to get it to "work."  Plus, because of the short expiration date, you cannot keep too many on hand without risk of waste.  Another reason you couldn't risk having them wasted.  You could perhaps dedicate a special subgroup to address scheduled supply change-outs but there is always the risk of having to change them on an unscheduled basis, prior to the 30-day expiration.

 What about limiting to your Respiratory group?

I wondered how onerous it will be for nurses to use the Abl90s. Our RTs will be using them, but they won't be the only staff to do so. As much as I'd like respiratory to take blood gases over, they will be falling under Point of Care testing. At this moment, I will probably be training at least 100 end-users.

When the instrument was initially new, POC trained all our CRNAs and CVOR RNs.  Each class took about 45-60 minutes and everyone had to run a sample.  We have a training checklist for the now super-trainers to train with for new employees. I can share that with you privately if you like. Katie.blauwet@sanfordhealth.org