Blood Gas Measurements Using Point-of-Care Testing Devices in Pediatric Patients

Point-of-care testing (POCT) devices for the analysis of patient samples, which can generally be performed at bedside or in another place outside the clinical laboratory by health professionals without any laboratory training (4).Using POCTs fulfills the need for rapid results and immediate decision to initiate therapy.Sample transfer time to the laboratory can be saved, and clinical decision-making can be performed rapidly (5).However, increased costs for the purchase and maintenance of analyzers, personnel training, laboratory information system, quality control, and external quality assessment procedures are important for ISO 15189:2022 accreditation (6).POCT has shorter turnaround times (TAT) for blood gas analysis results than the central laboratory; therefore, it is a clinically important advantage in decision-making.