more humidity questions
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Hello all - My clinics are having a rough time keeping humidity up due to cold dry air. This is the first winter we are actually tracking humidity, so this is the first year we are having to deal with these issues. Many of my POC instruments have lower humidity ranges - a couple are at 20%. I know if we are out of range we cannot use the machines, but once we come back in range can we use them again right away? My impulse is to QC after going out of range and coming back in, but none of the actual test kit inserts has humidity usage ranges, and none of the user manuals for the instruments themselves say anything about needing to QC the inst. after an excursion. Folks in dry climates - what do you do in these situations? I've been having everyone just QC all tests any time there is an excursion, but it has gotten kind of out of control with the colder weather we've had the last couple of weeks.
Thanks,
Jill
Thanks,
Jill
3 Replies
If I read correctly, you indicate that the instruments/devices used in the areas you have added humidity monitoring do not actually specify acceptable humidity ranges. Why monitor the humidity? How can you set an appropriate acceptable range?
Go by the manufacturer user manual for instrumentation. The package insert for reagents might not be the reason for the humidity check. We have a humidity alarm for one of our instruments that has been triggered recently. We have the users perform QC prior to running patients. Although, it will be interesting to hear what others do.
Jill H - Our POC machines DO have acceptable humidity ranges, on a couple of them (flu and glucometer) the lower acceptable limit is 20% humidity (Our Cliniteks are at 18% - we've gone below that a few times as well). We have been monitoring our testing areas for temp and humidity, and our humidity monitors have indicated that we've fallen below 20% pretty frequently in the last few weeks at various locations. The machine user manuals don't say if the instruments need to be QC'd post excursion, prior to using for patient testing. That I guess is my main questions - does everyone else QC instruments after a low humidity excursion?
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