Bedside blood gas and electrolyte monitoring in critically ill patients.

A major advantage of near-patient testing is time savings that facilitate important diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. Recent technologic advances have made available a number of systems that allow for near-patient testing. The reliability of these instruments must be validated in the clinical setting in the hands of their intended users. We evaluated the Gemstat blood gas, electrolyte, and Hct portable analyzer in the critical care setting when used by numerous individuals with no previous laboratory training. Blood gas, Na, K, and Hct results were highly correlated with those from the clinical laboratories (PaO2, r = .96; PaCO2, r = .92, pH, r = .96; Na, r = .93; K, r = .95; Hct, r = .91). The Gemstat represents a new generation of portable, rapid, safe, and accurate instruments that are well suited for ICU settings. The instrument can facilitate clinical management of patients, and may improve patient care.