iSTAT in NICU -chem 8, CG4

We currently use the Gem 5000 for our nursery.  They are able to run Umbilical Cord- venous and umbilical cord -arterial. ( Ran by our Nursing staff)  We do not utilize the LA and ICa+ on our nursery Gem but the machine has the  capability.  The "in lab" GEM 5000 has a stand alone lactic acid and stand alone iCA.  If you ran the green pack in NICU it would have every thing they are requesting.

I don't believe Abbott has approval yet for capillary on the Chem 8 or CG4. That has been the roadblock for me with trying to implement iSTAT in our NICU. Currently they use the Epocal which has everything they want on 1 card. We use iSTAT everywhere else.

Anyone using iSTAT for cord blood gases?

I use my iSTAT in the Nursery ( our Nursery is not a NICU), our RT's run venous & arterial cord gases and capillary on the G3 cartridge. We do not use the CG4 for the reason mentioned above, they are not approved for capillary therefore if they need a Lactic Acid it has to be a lab draw. I am okay with the RT's running these, if it were RN's I would be more skeptical. 

We have iSTATs in our NICU and utilize the CG8+ white cartridge as they are approved for capillary samples. We also use the CG4+ cartridge with the stipulation that only venous and arterial samples may be used, which is challenging in a NICU.  Looking to change to the white CG4+ if it's available. The RNs perform the testing. Initially until everyone got used to sample collection and good technique for loading the cartridges, it was a little challenging but now it's fine and they love it. We had to do a lot of hand holding in the beginning.