Be Life-Threatening to the Patient
Bedside glucose testing is one of the most commonly performed tests in the hospital and many clinicians take the accuracy and reliability of these results for granted. However, certain glucose meters have interferences from medications and other endogenous factors that can cause erroneous glucose meter results. Five recently published papers have reported that inaccurate results from these meters have lead to improper treatment, such as giving insulin to a patient who is hypoglycemic, which can cause catastrophic outcomes including death. This is an ongoing, real-life problem, with reports of adverse outcomes due to erroneous glucose meter results and inappropriate insulin administration.1-4 In addition to adverse events, meter errors can cause increased length of stay and cost of hospitalization.
This seminar will show how superior outcomes are achieved through improved glucose meter accuracy, discuss factors which can affect accuracy of some glucose meters and how to avoid them, and review implementation of an interference-free bedside glucose testing system which protects patients and providers.
Nam Tran
Ph.D., M.S., HCLD (ABB), CLS, MLS (ASCP), FAACC
Professor and Senior Director of Clinical Pathology,
University of California, Davis Medical Center
References:
- Orija, et al. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aace.2020.11.030T
- Krabbe, et al. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2020-1445
- Katzman, et al. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1932296820932186
- Lachance, et al. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13256-021-02869-4