Finger Prick

I’ve been really busy working overtime for weeks due to the shift I’m assigned to and since I’m having half day on my second last day of official work, I shall clear all my overdue posts. Once again, I won’t be sharing about the routine work I do in the lab since everybody is doing so. I will be sharing about the things I do but not in the lab and within the usual job scope. For the place that I’m attached to, we’ve outreach program. For the one that I was asked to go, a finger prick to test for cholesterol and glucose level was required to be done by me.

Things needed:

1. Lancet

2. Cholesterol meters

3. Glucose meters

4. Cholesterol test strips

5. Glucose test strips

6. Alcohol swabs

7. Cotton wool

Steps involved:

1. Turn on the glucose meter then the cholesterol meter.

2. Insert the respective test strips into the respective meters.

3. Swab the patient’s finger (to be pricked) with alcohol swab

4. Feel the thickness of the patient’s skin and adjust the depth of the lancet accordingly

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Taken from: http://www.poc.roche.com/poc/rewrite/generalContent/en_US/article/POC_general_article_37.htm

5. Prick the finger and clean off the first drop of blood.

6. Cover the test area completely with blood (first cholesterol then glucose) and wait for results.

I will only be sharing in details about the Cobas Accutrend Cholesterol test. It is used to determine cholesterol in fresh capillary blood in diabetics and non diabetics, for self monitoring, for early detection of a risk of astherosclerosis, for monitoring treatment with lipid-lowering drugs and for screening purposes. Cholesterol esters are cleaved by enzymes into fatty acids and cholesterol, oxidation of cholesterol to cholestenone with the simultaneous formation of hydrogen peroxide, which oxidizes an indicator to its blue radical cation.

Whenever a new pack of Accutrend Cholesterol strips is opened, the meter must be coded. This is done by inserting the code strip into the meter. After which, a QC is done using the Accutrend Control CH1 control solution to check if the meter and test strips are fit for use. When blood is applied, a chemical reaction takes place and the test area changes colour. The meter records this change in colour and converts the measurement signal to the displayed result using the data previously entered via the code strip. Normal cholesterol values are less than 5.2 mmol/L. The measuring range for this meter that I’m using is 3.88 – 7.76 mmol/L. Cholesterol determination may be affected by intravenous infusion of ascorbic acid, bilirubin values greater than 10mg/dL, hematocrit values exceeding 55%, methylaminoantipyrine and gentisic acid.

Enjoy!

Michelle

TG02

0703478H