Waste.....

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To all,

I have been asked "What do you consider "waste" on an ISTAT?"
I am now asking the group what your ideas are.

For me, waste is essentially the fault of the instrument/system/management of inventory:
-cartridges that are past the expiration date at either room temperature or that expire beyond the Abbott stamped date
-"Stars" that require a reshoot/new sample

Operator errors or repeats due to results that are unexpected are not waste in my opinion. Laboratorians repeat those types of results in the lab if we have questions or doubt. And everyone is human here. I use operator errors to point to training needs.

Also, there are times that an ISTAT is about to die and the multiple testing errors are a symptom of that.

Opinions please....?

2 Replies

Rajesh Kumar

Tue Nov 04, 2025 at 11:41PM

According to my opinion, any cartridge received as inventory, either in the store or in the department, that fails to provide results should be considered as waste. Operator error is one of the main sources of such issues. Common causes include:

The cartridge is not left outside the refrigerator for at least five minutes before testing.
The cartridge is returned to the refrigerator after being taken out.
Underfilling of the cartridge.
Overfilling of the cartridge.
The operator touches the sensors.
The operator accidentally presses the center of the cartridge.
The operator forgets to close the snap closure.
The operator fails to check the battery status (if the battery is about to die).
The cartridge is removed from its pack more than five minutes before testing.
The cartridge exceeds its room temperature shelf life.

All these factors can lead to cartridge wastage and should be considered as waste.

Miranda Cotter

Thu Nov 06, 2025 at 8:23PM

I divided up the ISTAT error codes into Preventable and Non-Preventable errors. We monitor the preventable errors and report that on QI reports to the area. We also monitor the operators and if they get 3 or more preventable errors in a month, we touch base with them on their technique.

For cartridges that may close to expiration, we try to identify those when we are in the areas (or they call us) and we can sometimes get the supply to ED or another high use department that might be able to use them up before the expiration.

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Waste.....