POC Urinalysis instruments

I would love to know about an alternative product; we have close to 100 CT Status devices and while they're workhorses, Siemens doesn't seem to be interested in improving them as they have been the only game in town for so long.  Interested in what you might discover with alternative products.

Hello,

I have a practice who has recently trialed the Clarity Diagnostics Platinum UA analyzer. The machine has a few quality measures that the Siemens does not. For example...

The Clarity Platinum is also 100% made in the USA, so cannot go wrong there! The vendor has both placement agreement and purchase promo options (ex: buy 5 bottles of strips - machine is included in the price). Clarity is also willing to have health systems trial machines prior to purchasing to make sure it is a good fit.

The only downside I have found with the Clarity Platinum machine is regarding the microalbumin strip. The microalbumin strip cannot be ran on the Platinum machine at this time, it must be visually read. They are however in the process of creating one, so this is just a temporary inconvenience.
 
Clarity Platinum Urine Analyzer - Clarity Diagnostics

Our practices currently use the Siemens Clinitek Status, many of which are out of warranty and no longer can be replaced when they become inoperable (some have the Bayer Healthcare logo so you know these ones are dinosaurs!). We are moving towards the Clarity Platinum UA machine.

Hope this helps!

Raychel

Raychel that was great information! I'll take a look at Clarity,  see if a rep will give us a demo. 
The albumin is an issue, but possibly one we can get around for now. We would be gradually rolling out a new instrument, so there's time.

Thanks again!

It is not true that Siemens is not interested in improving the product; they are working on a new version of this in their R&D department. I'm not sure what the timeline is, and also not sure what the improvements will be. Our issue with the Clinitek is the humidity spec. It only goes down to 18%. That's not low enough for NM. I've tried to research other devices, but all have similar humidity requirements. 
I'll probably take a look at Clarity. One question I would have is connectivity. Does it have a mechanism to connect to middleware like RALS, Telcor, Orchard? If not, no amount of improvements could convince me to consider it.

Kathleen, I just asked the same question regarding connectivity to the Clarity Sales Rep. 
It will connect to a network, which makes me believe it can connect to a middleware. 

I'll let you know what the response is, unless Raychel is able to provide it first?

I like the idea of device options. Always good to keep competition and improvement coming our way.
Clinitek does indeed have PASS/FAIL for QC as well as QC lockout for time and PASS. Clinitek Status does not require a specific control manuf./type - you set the ranges in the instrument. It is an old workhorse for sure - wish touch screen was updated a bit.
Clarify appears to require only Clarify controls. Require each day, every 100 tests and 30 days. but lockout is set for the 100tests/30 days - no each day of testing lockout?   see below.   
We used to require "each day of testing"  QC with the Clinitek Status dipstick but after years of PASS every day, have gone to a facility requirement of weekly and new cannisters on lockout.  I believe the Siemens manuf requirement is each cannister.
Also no preg test option.  We have successfully used the Clinitek Status preg tests since 2018 - worth it not to monitor the data entry of POC staff and the ease of tracking lots and aqueous QC.

Hello,

The Clarity does have interface capabilities. I do not have specific info as our health system does not currently utilize a middleware, so this was not a large part of our discussions.

The QC lockout feature is adjustable. I had the same question regarding frequency of QC since our practices perform each time a new bottle is opened and every 30 days (if same bottle of strips is being used to ensure proper storage).
Since the PI states OR not AND, this means this list is all possible opportunities of when QC can be performed. Any are acceptable. We plan to continue the same QC frequency as before.

Raychel