Bedside glucose meter options - what do you use and why?
Our facility switched to the Nova StatStrip glucose meters almost 5 years ago and they have been very satisfactory. In the meantime, all the issues with use for "critical care" arose, and I have been assured and given documentation from Nova that their meters are the only ones approved for use in that situation. We are now at a point where we need to renew our contract. I have explained to our administration that by my understanding, other brands of meters cannot be used for critically ill patients, doing so would be considered "off label." My question is - for those facilities that use other brands of meters, what do you do for your critically ill patients? Do you just always do a venous draw for the lab? I want to research all options so we can have a comparison. FYI, we are a small facility and currently do not use any other point of care devices such as I-STAT, etc.
| Topic | Replies | Likes | Views | Participants | Last Reply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hemochron Sig Elite use outside of manufacturer temperature range | 0 | 0 | 41 | ||
| EPOC scanner issue post software update | 6 | 0 | 292 | ||
| PFA-100 | 0 | 0 | 120 |
I have used the Accu Chek for the main reason that it has a stand alone wifi connectivity without connecting to the case or the dock in both facilities that I've coordinated, easy to use, and small sample size.
I looked into the Nova when our contract was up at another facility a few years back. My concern was the NOVA in order to be used on critically ill patients needs to be a venous or arterial draw and they won't just sell you meters for critical areas (which of course I imagine would be a nightmare for nursing to use and train on 2 diff meters). Instead of changing over for various reasons, mainly cost and training, the lab established any critical glucose result gets a stat lab draw auto ordered through the LIS for clarification. I make sure that nursing knows they are to treat the patient as quickly and necessary by their protocols. The lab knows its not for correlation but to confirm whether the patient is truly in a critical status, which we call criticals to the provider, or if the patient has been treated and is no longer in a "critical" state.
The facility I am in now also uses Accu Chek and has a pediatric population so any DKA or critical patient is usually getting blood gases so they do a glucose when testing. We do venous gases and venous glucoses so we're good with the critically ill protocol. And there are no meters in the critical areas to contend with possible use.
Just a reminder that the Nova Meter can be used on your institution's definition
of critically ill but only on venous or arterial blood.
We use Abbott Freestyle and previously the Xceed. It was chosen by nursing staff after meetings with Nova and Abbott. We did not consider the Accuchek at the time because of issues it was having. Nursing liked the ergonomics and Infection control loved the sealed strips. We upgraded to the Freestyle last year. Nursing is very happy.
We use the Nova StatStrip and are very pleased with the accuracy and ease of use. The staff can now choose the patient type (critically ill or not) and the sample type on the meter and that can be tracked in RALS and the LIS. If an alternate sample type is needed they draw a venous or arterial sample from a line and use the Nova meter. If there is no line to access, they will get a lab glucose or have it done on the epoc with the blood gases.
Good Morning Karen,
How do you specify patient type on the glucometer? and What version of RALS do you have that can track this information.
Thank you
We have meter firmware version 4.23.8.53 and RALS version 5.12. The meter firmware allows for customization in device configuration to choose the patient type and the sample type. In RALS, I just set up the results review page with those choices so I can quickly look to see if the sample type is appropriate for the patient type. Our LIS is working to recieve that info from RALS and then we will build some reports.
Karen, Do you have the newer wireless version of the Nova StatStrip?
No, we do have the newer meter style with the strip port on the bottom. But they are not wireless.