Comparison of Blood Gas Analysis between Benchtop and Handheld Device

Abstract

The use of blood gas analysis is to determine the Acid-base status required to treat patients with emergency conditions such as metabolic disorders and respiratory diseases. Benchtop device is commonly used in hospitals to analyze blood gas; however, handheld devices are recently more often used in emergency settings due to its quick and simple process. This study was performed to compare blood gas analysis results between the i-STAT handheld device and the Nova pHox Ultra benchtop device that were currently being used in the central laboratory. This cross-sectional study was conducted by using 42 arterial blood patients that were measured with i-STAT handheld device dan Nova pHox Ultra benchtop device. The pH, pCO2, and pO2 parameters were then evaluated. The data were analyzed using Spearman's correlation test, Mann-Whitney test, and Bland-Altman plots. This study showed a very strong positive correlation for all parameters. Mann-Whitney comparison test showed that there was no significant difference between the result of the two devices (p-value > 0.05). All parameters showed that 95% of plots were within the acceptable limit. There was no clinical significance on the mean biases of blood gas results between both devices. The i-STAT and Nova pHox Ultra devices showed a good agreement for blood gas measurement. Therefore, both devices can be used interchangeably with minimal effect on clinical decision-making.