Point of Care Blood Analysis System

Point-of-care (POC) blood gas analysis testing measures the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in a patient’s blood sample, as well as its pH. Whether done in a clinical setting or as a POC intervention, blood gas testing is often used for evaluating potential respiratory, lung, or breathing problems—or for understanding the effectiveness of existing treatments for patients with persistent conditions.

Blood analysis testing has several major use cases, and may be ordered for a wide range of reasons. One major reason for blood analysis is blood gas testing, which can be used in evaluating patients for potential lung disease (such as pneumonia or emphysema). In part, blood gas analysis testing measures the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in a patient’s blood sample, as well as its pH.  Providers may order blood gas analysis in order to help identify or diagnose a number of patient symptoms, including:

• Rapid breathing or shortness of breath
• Feeling unusually, persistently fatigued
• Mental confusion, disorientation, or light-headedness
• Suspected carbon monoxide poisoning
• Potential congestive heart failure
• Breathing-related conditions such as COPD or Guillain-Barré syndrome

In addition to basic blood gas testing, providers may also order other, related blood tests offered by blood analysis systems including checking electrolytes (Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, Ionized Calcium) and metabolites (Blood Urea Nitrogen, Creatinine, Glucose, Lactate). This collection of tests—sometimes referred to as basic chemistries or a basic metabolic panel—provides a snapshot of a patient’s health, including kidney function, blood sugar levels, and levels of key ions involved in fluid balance. The epoc^® Blood Analysis System provides the key measurements of blood gases, electrolytes and metabolites on one test card, from only a few drops of blood.

Regardless of the use case or context, the primary objective of epoc blood analysis is the same: to help providers to quickly assess patients, provide timely answers with maximum accuracy and convenience, and determine the appropriate next step(s) or course of care.

Broadly speaking, blood gas testing is one use case for POCT—and venous blood gas testing is one method for POCT for blood analysis (along with arterial blood gas or capillary-based blood testing). The specific test and sample types depend on the specific circumstances, context, and objective. 

As the National Institutes of Health (NIH²) notes, while “arterial blood, driving directly from pulmonary circulation, accurately reflects respiratory conditions,” venous blood sampling “is a superior alternative to ABG analysis for patients experiencing metabolic disturbances.²” 

Whether using blood sampled from veins, arteries, or capillaries, modern POCT methods provide a high level of convenience, efficiency, and accuracy, with samples being collected and tested with a turnaround time, from sample introduction, of around a minute or less. This means healthcare providers can make more timely and sound recommendations for patient care, ultimately improving outcomes.

The epoc Blood Analysis System—which provides quick, lab-accurate blood gas, electrolyte, and metabolite (BGEM) results—can be used in a wide range of applications and use cases across the care continuum. It can wirelessly and securely connect the entire care team, providing them with timely insights and information they can use to provide patients with the right care at the right time, with streamlined workflows leading to increased efficiency and accuracy, along with reduced costs.

Especially when performed as convenient point of care testing, blood analysis can provide crucial answers for patients throughout the healthcare system, including in areas like:

• Emergency rooms and transport
• Respiratory care and intensive care
• Neonatal and pediatric intensive care units (NICU, PICU)
• Imaging and radiology
• Cardiovascular operating room (CVOR)

Emergency departments and transport teams can use the epoc System to quickly assess the seriousness and urgency of a patient’s condition, including determining whether a patient needs to be transferred to the ICU (or elsewhere) for the appropriate care. 

The epoc System’s quickness and accuracy are major benefits that can help reduce the time to treatment or diagnosis. This, in turn, alleviates overcrowding and other delays within emergency departments, and helps toward using healthcare resources in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Within a respiratory care or intensive care environment, patients’ conditions can change drastically over the course of a short time. The ability to use the epoc System for fast, laboratory-accurate results enables providers to easily monitor patients’ oxygenation and physiological perfusion, for example. This application of epoc can lead to more effective ventilator utilization and management, near real-time responses to physiological changes, more efficient resource allocation, and other positive outcomes. Additionally, the epoc System in these settings, as well as in emergency rooms and transport, can help with early recognition of elevated lactate levels that may hasten the detection of time-sensitive illness.

When working with infants, taking too much blood (for sample purposes) can be dangerous—with the potential to exacerbate anemia, for example. Providers in these areas must minimize how much blood they draw in order to reduce the risk of infections or other complications.

By minimizing how much blood is required for analysis, the epoc System provides a safer method than its alternatives, without compromising accuracy or efficiency. Using epoc in a NICU/PICU setting makes it possible for caregivers to respond immediately to key analytical parameters, like fluid loss, ventilation, metabolism, and effects from anticoagulant usage—providing lab-accurate results in under a minute from sample application.

Some patients are at risk of side effects from the common, iodine-based contrast media often used for radiology purposes, including the potential for nephrotoxicity.

When imaging or radiology departments have an epoc System available, they can quickly check creatinine levels so an alternative contrasting agent or method may be used, mitigating that particular risk and improving diagnostic accuracy.

Using an epoc System within the operating room enables clinicians’ ability to rapidly monitor, assess, and manage a patient’s condition throughout a procedure—with many of these decisions having potentially life-altering consequences.

The epoc Blood Analysis System puts quick, laboratory-accurate testing at the fingertips of surgeons, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, and nurses—each of whom plays a vital and valuable role in delivering patient care.

The epoc Blood Analysis System measures 13 distinct analytes relating to patients’ blood gas, electrolyte, and metabolite (BGEM) levels. The epoc System enables this robust testing without requiring multiple epoc test cards. Instead, a single test card can be used to measure any or all of the following parameters:

1. pH
2. Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂)
3. Partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂)
4. Total carbon dioxide (TCO₂)
5. Sodium
6. Potassium
7. Ionized Calcium
8. Chloride
9. Hematocrit
10. Glucose
11. Lactate
12. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN)
13. Creatinine

The epoc System also calculates measurement of 18 additional clinical values, including hemoglobin, anion gap, eGFR. While the methodologies related to analyte measurement may be distinct, one of the top benefits of epoc testing is that multiple test cards are not required. You can learn more about these test parameters and related considerations by viewing the Summary of Analytical Methods and Performance whitepaper.

Key advantages of the epoc Blood Analysis System include reduced turnaround time, increased operational efficiency, accuracy and quality you can count on, and improved IT security.

Especially in critical care settings, being able to administer tests and receive (and interpret) their results quickly can be the difference between a timely, life-saving intervention and losing a patient. 

The ability to use a handheld, point-of-care blood analysis testing system helps providers to make the kind of quick, confident decisions their patients are counting on, and to do so in a timely, data-informed manner. Without having to leave the patient’s bedside, providers can easily collect samples and receive actionable results in less than a minute from sample application.

When caregivers are tied to cumbersome workflows, it can greatly impede their ability to deliver timely care. Testing procedures and workflows shouldn’t be complicated or overly burdensome, and with the epoc System, they are streamlined and efficient. 

Because samples are collected and tested at the patient’s bedside, physicians don’t wait for important clinical results. Also, they can rest assured in the quality of the patient sample and that the sample being tested reflects the patient's current condition since samples don’t have to be transported to a lab.

In addition to providing lab-accurate blood gas, electrolyte and metabolite (BGEM) test results in less than a minute from sample application, the epoc Blood Analysis System with NXS host is capable of optimizing critical workflows for healthcare providers, including by:

• Improving Quality Assurance: The epoc System uses bar-coded test cards and automated expiration checks, and provides simplified, streamlined processes for bedside testing, result reporting and more.
• Accelerating Clinical Decision-Making: The epoc System provides fast, accurate and actionable results, helping providers to assess their patients’ current status and make timely care decisions.
• Simplifying Inventory Management: epoc test cards are room temperature stable, meaning they don’t require refrigeration and the associated inventory tracking.
• Providing Centralized Testing Controls: The epoc System enables secure and wireless bi-directional communication, as well as integration with Siemens Healthineers’ POC informatics solutions.

No matter how convenient POC blood testing is, it’s only as useful as it is accurate. And despite the fact that samples are not transported to a dedicated lab environment for testing, the epoc System delivers lab-accurate critical test results patient-side, quickly, enabling fast intervention and treatment. 

The epoc System also includes plenty of safeguards for sample traceability. With measures like positive patient ID, automated quality assurance, onboard instructions with visual prompts, color-coded results, and more the epoc workflow can help mitigate errors and improve result accuracy.

Just as vulnerabilities exist whenever blood samples must be transported to and from laboratory and clinical facilities, the same can be said for test results. When using the epoc System for blood testing, there is very little “transport” or associated risk involved. 

Samples are taken at the patient’s bedside, and the results are automatically and instantly transmitted via a secure, wireless connection that will often be integrated with data management software (DMS) and related systems like hospital and laboratory information systems (HIS, LIS). 

The epoc System doesn’t just handle test results, however. It also integrates with a remote, centralized system for managing devices, operators, inventory, and even quality control. When used properly, this end-to-end system results in more secure data management and the ability for providers to make real-time, appropriate decisions based on lab results.

The epoc System enables collection and testing for 13 different analytes from a single small volume sample and makes the process highly intuitive. There are three main components to the epoc Blood Analysis System: the reader, host computer, and test card.

• epoc Reader: A battery-powered, portable device with an internal barcode scanner, used to accept test cards, measure electrical signals from test card sensors, and wirelessly transmit results (via Bluetooth) to the epoc NXS Host.
• epoc NXS Host Mobile Computer: A dedicated-use mobile device/computer with Bluetooth capabilities and special software for calculating analytical values sent from the Reader and displaying test results. Visit our website to review the epoc NXS host manual.
• epoc BGEM Test Card: A single-use, room-temperature stable test card that contains a port for blood sample application, as well as an array of sensors and calibration fluid in a sealed reservoir. When the sample is introduced, the test card generates electrical signals proportional to analyte concentrations within the patient sample or quality control solution.

From the host’s intuitive touchscreen interface to its ability to display and transmit lab-accurate results in less than a minute from sample application, these components work together to greatly streamline and simplify the critical blood analysis. Here’s a step-by-step overview of the basic epoc test procedure that helps optimize testing workflows: 

1. Scan or enter user ID
2. Insert test card when prompted
3. Scan or enter patient ID
4. Enter sample type and other information
5. Select or deselect test analytes
6. Inject sample when prompted
7. View test results
8. Confirm to close and transmit results

You can learn more about how the epoc System works by:

• Reviewing the epoc System manual from the Siemens Healthineers documentation page,
• Or go to the Features & Benefits section of the epoc System product page to access many content assets. 
  
  

If you’re ready to learn more about Siemens Healthineers epoc blood gas analyzer and the value it can bring to your organization, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our website is also home to several informative resources, including:

You can also reach out to us directly when you’re ready to discuss what epoc implementation might look like for your organization.