THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410070305
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
It looks like one of those futuristic, hand-held medical computer analyzers used by doctors onboard the starship Enterprise.
But this is not science fiction.
The i-STAT, which Chesapeake General Hospital has been using since June 27, is real. It is a new state-of-the-art piece of electronic equipment that will save time, lab costs and quite possibly lives.
Time is of the essence in emergency room situations, and patient information is needed as quickly as possible. With the i-STAT, a nurse can do blood analysis on a patient in only a fraction of the time it took using the traditional laboratory way.
The i-STAT system is a hand-held instrument resembling a cordless phone. It can analyze seven commonly ordered blood tests in 90 seconds, using only two to three drops of blood from the patient's finger.
``The biggest benefit is the time factor, especially for critically ill patients,'' Dr. David Pitrolo, emergency physical, said in a hospital interview. ``It's also a big plus for the emergency patient who needs to go to surgery.''
``I've worked in hospital laboratories for 20 years, 10 years at Chesapeake General, so I've been in this field for a while and know when something comes along that's going to make a difference, and this definitely does,'' said Cheryl Paige, quality assurance manager for the Chesapeake General Hospital laboratory. ``This is one of the biggest developments that I've seen. It gives quick results as accurately as the conventional method and can make a difference in a patient.''
Compare the conventional way of obtaining a blood test and the new way using the i-STAT:
The conventional method - A doctor orders a blood test; a secretary places the test order in a computer which is printed out in the lab; a phlebotomist (one who draws blood from a patient) goes to the patient, draws blood from a vein in the arm and sends it to the lab via a pneumatic tube; a lab technician takes the blood, checks the computer for patient information and takes the sample to the testing area; the blood first has to clot, which could take five to eight minutes, and then is placed into a centrifuge to separate its components so it can finally be tested. Total time: 20 minutes under ideal no-other-tests-waiting conditions, but with lab work build-up and other mitigating circumstances it could take anywhere from one to two hours.
The i-STAT method - A nurse pricks the patient's finger; draws a few drops of blood, not a whole vial; slips drops into a test cartridge which is inserted into the device; test is completed in 90 seconds with results displayed on small screen that can be fed into the hospital's computer records using a small central data station.
With these ``immediate'' results a doctor receives the patient's current condition. Using the conventional method, the patient's condition may have already changed.
``In 20 minutes the patient's condition could have changed dramatically,'' Paige said. ``When the patient is critical, time is a big, big factor. Those 20 minutes can make a big difference. It is the most important factor in life and death situations.''
The analyzer, which costs $3,000, can test for sodium, potassium, chloride, glucose, urea nitrogen and others. Paige said the tests are important in the intravenous therapy of patients with hypertension, kidney failure, cardiac arrest, diabetes and other conditions.
Paige also said with this simple two-step method using the i-STAT there's less margin for error.
``With the conventional way, every time the specimen changes hands it introduces steps for potential error,'' she said.
In addition, using this new device frees up hospital laboratories to work on other important projects and assignments and the fact that it requires only a few drops of blood taken from a simple finger prick is beneficial to children and the elderly.
``With some elderly patients it's hard to draw blood from their arm, many times their veins have collapsed,'' Paige said. ``It's also great for pediatric patients since they won't have to be traumatized for further blood samples.''
Paige said the device first caught the attention of hospital Administrator Donald Buckley last fall while he was attending a meeting. He passed the information along to Wilbur Addison, the hospital's laboratory director, who passed it to Paige, who saw its worth and contacted the company's representatives.
After many meetings between the Princeton-based company's representatives and hospital personnel and after many tests and training sessions, Chesapeake General brought the instrument at the end of June, making it the first one in South Hampton Roads to adopt it.
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital also brought it into service last week, and other area hospitals will likely follow suit.
``We got it working well in one area of our hospital and will begin to expand it to our intensive care unit,'' she said. ``This is absolutely revolutionary.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BOB ALLEN
Cheryl Paige tests a blood sample with the new blood analyzer,
i-STAT, at Chesapeake General Hospital.
by CNB