Addressing Common Pre-Analytical Errors Associated with Arterial Blood Gas Analysis using the Proxima System

Arterial blood gas analysis is common in critical care settings, where the results almost always have the potential to dictate an immediate or urgent response. Many of the pre-analytical steps in arterial blood gas analysis are analogous to other laboratory tests, e.g. accurate sample labeling. However, some pre-analytical steps and potential sources of error are unique to blood gas analysis due to the physicochemical properties of the analytes being measured. This application note explores how and why the pre-analytical errors occur along with the impact of the error on the analyte levels in the blood sample, and demonstrates the use of the Proxima System, an on demand arterial blood gas analyzer that is designed to address many of the errors that can occur in the preanalytical phase.