Replacement for AVOX

Hi, We're looking at the NOVA Stat Prime Plus. It has a specific Panel called AVOX!. It can be interfaced, scanner, the works. Much easier to maintain compliance, can enter Operator ID's remotely and real Operator Lock out!

We have a Rapidpoint 500, but it gives us several results opposed to the Avox 1000E dinosaur.

I just saw a demo for the Nova Biomedical device.  We too are looking for a replacement for our Avox, for the same reasons.  The novaBiomedical (StatProfile+) has onboard QC that you can set a schedule for (daily, weekly, etc).  It also has QC and operator lockout. Bi-directional connectivity, a built in scanner, onboard printer, and clot block technology.  It also generates L-J graphs and calibrates every 2 hours.  We haven't made our decision yet, but if these appeal to you, reach out to them to do a demo for you.  It's a tabletop instrument (15 inches high) that you can unplug and move around.  The battery is good for 6 hours.  Result time: 45sec; Sample size: 135microliters.  Hope this helps.  

I want to issue a caution. If you Cath lab is like ours, they may revolt if you chose another analyzer that takes more time than the Avox does. It may be a dinosaur, but it does perform testing quite quickly (as long as the sample meets parameters). We would have loved to go with the Prime Plus but the Cath lab docs and CITs had issues with the amount of time it took to be able to run the next sample (if I remember correctly 17 seconds for the Avox vs. 1 minute for the Prime Plus.) Please involve your Cath lab in the decision making.

I agree Debra.  We kept an AVOX in pedi cath where they do sat runs and the GEM could not keep up.  We had cath lab staff involved at every step of the way.  It was our cath lab that chose to have the GEM in all 7 labs as they were out of compliance with their optical and liquid qc for so long and with so many citations.  They also were not compliant with patient logs.  They chose an interfaced solution to become compliant.  GEMS were the choice for them/us.

Agree with the comments about AVOX - it may be a dinosaur but it is extremely fast and therefore wins fans big time in the clinical areas because of it.  I have mentioned to the makers of AVOX (owners have changed hands many times) at every opportunity that they need to introduce improvements like a barcode scanner and better lockout features to it to bring it into this decade - heck, this century, but they don't seem interested in making those changes it seems.  Hard to beat the low cost of operation as well.  Within our large health system, those not using AVOX in cath lab settings are using the Radiometer ABL90 Flex Plus.  Only 35-second throughput, that should meet the needs of testing multiple samples quickly in that setting.  However, would recommend having more than 1 per cath lab because analyzer can be down several hours when changing out disposables (sensor cassette/solution pack).

We moved away from the Avox and to the Nova Prime Plus for regulatory compliance issues two years ago.  These issues are now a thing of the past.

We have also discovered that the Avox being a much more simplistic design does not have the same safeguards built into it as the new systems do.  Remember this platform was developed and approved for use some ~40 years ago.  I am not aware of any recent studies regarding interfering substances with it either.  There are products/drugs out on the market now that didn't exist back then.

We discovered that babies being transfused Intralipids will sometimes generate error messages rather than test results on the Prime Plus but not on the Avox.
Lipids interfere with the photospectrometer for testing co-ox but the Avox isn't designed to detect the issue.
 

Radiometer has a device that can be used in cath labs; I believe it is ABL80. 

Actually the ABL80 is being phased out - I believe service told me they would no longer be offering service on them soon.  That said, I would doubt they'd be selling any new.  They are pushing ABL90 for pretty much everything in a near-patient setting.