Point-of-care testing improves emergency care in Liverpool

AQT90 FLEX

 The Gynaecology Emergency Room and Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust is taking advantage of rapid ßhCG testing with Radiometer’s AQT90 FLEX to improve acute care. Ward Manager Joanne Jennings explained: “We treat up to 20,000 patients a year for pain and bleeding in early pregnancy, and ßhCG testing is a crucial tool in helping us provide accurate clinical diagnoses. Because we are a specialist acute hospital, we used to send patient samples to a neighbouring hospital for testing. The resulting delay meant that patients either had to be sent home to await results or, in high risk cases, admitted until results were available. We wanted to establish point-of-care ßhCG testing in order to improve our patient care.”

Following the introduction of the AQT90 FLEX in the department earlier this summer, staff are now able to get ßhCG results in just 18 minutes, allowing more rapid diagnosis and eliminating unnecessary admissions. Ruth Stubbs, matron for gynaecology, continued: “Point-of-care testing has significantly improved the experience for our patients. We are now able to talk through the results with the patient almost immediately, and this face-to-face discussion helps to reduce anxiety and improves understanding. Radiometer has been very helpful in terms of both training our staff to use the system, and in helping us to create a competency framework which gives us complete confidence in the results we obtain. Being able to perform this test within the department has also reduced the administration burden for requesting and reporting, giving staff more time to care for patients.”

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