Rapid Point Blood Gas Cal failures
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I am overseeing the Blood Gas since we have now put Blood Gas under CAP and the lab, however we do have director of Respiratory that handles Blood Gas. I just review in RALS and ensure that competencies are done. My question is that I noted in RALS that one of the Blood Gas machines had multiple CAL errors for several days. In my mind, this needs investigating however, I am told by the director or respiratory that it corrects itself and I should not be worried and that no PM's are needed on the machine. I am trying to navigate a whole new world. Can someone help to understand? Do the Rapid Points not need to have PM's, do we just ignore Six or more cal failures in a 24 hour period, I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle with the director. Please I need help.
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I completely understand how you are feeling, but do not worry. The calibration and QC on the Rapid Point are all cartridge based, meaning the measurement cartridge contains the sensors, reagents, and electronic and fluidic components needed to analyze patient and QC samples and to calibrate the RAPIDPoint 500 system. This is why you do not need to do PM's on them. The analyzer will continue to rerun the failed calibrations up to 2 times per analyte, if the analyzer detects an issue then it will turn off the use of the failed analyte. At that point, your only option is to switch out the Measurement Cartridge and basically start over with all new material.
Does this make sense?
.
That is a lot of calibration failures and yes the instrument is protecting patient testing by most likely not allowing those tests to be ran, auto lock out. But here is the thing, sometimes there are reasons for repeated calibration failures. Sometimes they do not require anything but time. Sometimes they require a reagent cartridge swap out and sometimes they require a PM.
Waiting over 24 hours for a calibration? Most likely that Cal will not come in for whatever the reason behind it is. That is a long time to wait for an instrument to right itself. Replace the cartridge. If that cartridge doesn't calibrate, go troubleshoot. Are all of the connecting inside the chamber where the reagent pack looking good? Is there any corrosion? Does the reagent pack push in appropriately. Call tech support if not and let them help guide you to if an engineer needs to come out.