POC cardiac testing improves patient care

The A&E department at Blackpool Victoria Hospital has installed Radiometer’s AQT90 FLEX point-of-care immunoassay analyser to help assess patients with low risk chest pain.

The compact device will help to speed up diagnosis and reduce the need for unnecessary hospital admissions, saving hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

In Blackpool it is being used at the bedside to test for a panel of cardiac markers – Troponin I, CKMB and Myoglobin – as part of the centre’s cardiac assessment strategy.

Sister Sharon Ellis said: “We are a busy A&E department and routinely see a wide variety of patients, many with chest pain.

“As the trust houses also houses the regional cardiac centre, we are well equipped to deal with MIs and other cardiac emergencies. However, for low risk cases, with a TIMI score below two, patients have historically had to wait until 12 hours after the onset of pain for a blood test to rule out a cardiac event. Despite a majority of these cases yielding negative results, this delay had significant implications for the trust, often requiring an unnecessary admission for the patient. Being able to rule out a cardiac event improves the patient’s journey and outcome.”

She added: “Introduction of the AQT90 FLEX has helped to improve this process significantly, allowing the first test to be performed 60 minutes after the onset of pain, and a follow-up test 90 minutes later for confirmation. This rapid turnaround not only reduces the strain on resources, it also offers reassurance to patients by ruling out a cardiac condition more quickly.”