I am in a small lab where we currently do blood gases on a RapidPoint. We will be bringing up one iStat in our ICU, and I'm confused about profiency testing.
Per the 2015 CMS directive, we "are not permitted to test PT samples on multiple instruments unless that is how they routinely test patient specimens." In reading through CAP literature though, it is permitted to use two PT products that are totally different but test for the same analytes.---the example given is evaluating chemistries on a traditional analyzer and an iSTAT, since those results would not be comparable.
So my confusion arises from the fact that I have two aqueous blood gas instruments. Do I name one primary and just do PT on that one, then compare? Or is the iSTAT so different that I should run PT separately on both. (Of note, in the CAP catalog, you have to order different PT material for iStat versus non-iStat).