Bood Gases on ISTAT

Forgive my spelling error! 

Things to know about CG4+ cartridge: the "new" blue cartridge is not approved for capillary specimens, and also the pH reference range only goes down to 7.000. We are using the "old" white cartridge in several of our sites for that reason--we need capillary approval as well as lower range for pH. If you're only doing ACT now, then you'll need a cal ver kit as well as QC. They are aqueous solutions that can be fiddly to use. PT will also be aqueous. 
Both cartridges are approved as mod complexity.

We've been very disappointed with the iSTAT system and customer service recently, so will probably move to actual blood gas analyzers in the next year or so  We don't use the CG4 cartridges though.  We've had so many issues with the CG8 cartridges in the past few years and are tired of dealing with Abbott.  1) Earlier this year, we received a faulty lot (snap closure wouldn't close) and lost about 600 cartridges out of 1700 ordered.  The investigation is pending, but haven't received any feedback so far.  2) There was a problem with the iCalcium analyte a little over a year ago, and we had to deal with that.  3) Abbott failed to inform us about back-orders of cartridges (ACT and CG8) several times in the past year; instead we were told by other hospitals in the area we service.  4) After placing our orders in the last few months, they weren't shipped timely like previous orders were shipped (usually we receive in 2-3 days, but the last order wasn't received until a week after ordering).  5) And all the FDA issues with multiple cartridge types in the past few years have really left a bad taste in our mouths.  

If we can hold out for another year, we will 100% make the change, and only keep the iSTAT system for ACT and Creatinine.  

We transitioned from the EPOCs to the IL GEMS and it has been a much better fit for our facilities. They are quicker and provide more options. With the correct cartridge you can perform Blood Gas, CoOx, Lytes and Lactate all with one sample