ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: to develop a tool for measuring the difficulty of intravenous line insertion in cancer patients (DIVA-CP) receiving peripheral chemotherapy. METHODS: a pilot-validation study divided into two phases was performed in a north-eastern Italian outpatient chemotherapy centre. In the first phase, a review of the literature and brainstorming sessions/direct discussions among expert oncology nurses were used to develop items on the DIVA-CP tool, and a panel of expert oncology nurses assessed the tool face and content validity. In the second phase, 260 adult patients undergoing single chemotherapy cycles were consecutively enrolled. Data was analysed for construct validity (explorative factor analysis) and inter-rater reliability (Cohen's Kappa). RESULTS: a 10-item tool was developed with four factors that were identified through factor analysis, explaining a total variance of 61.578%: accessibility to first choice veins (23.057%), venous fragility (15.197%), probable difficulties during the procedure (12.642%), and repeated exposure (10.691%). The tool demonstrated excellent inter-rater reliability (κ > 0.61 for 7 out of 10 items). CONCLUSIONS: the DIVA-CP tool is still a pilot instrument that needs to be improved through future studies. The tool has great potential and may perform an important role in oncological settings, allowing for easier venous assessment of patients receiving peripheral chemotherapy who are at risk of difficult intravenous access insertion. In addition, this instrument may help nurses to identify patients that may benefit from a central catheter promptly.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents/administration & dosage , Catheterization, Peripheral/methods , Catheterization, Peripheral/standards , Infusions, Intravenous/methods , Infusions, Intravenous/standards , Neoplasms/drug therapy , Psychometrics/instrumentation , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Humans , Italy , Male , Middle Aged , Pilot Projects , Reproducibility of Results , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The study of urine particles plays a key role in the diagnosis of kidney diseases. In this study, the authors evaluated the correlation between the UF-1000i and quantitative manual microscopy. METHODS: A total of 214 untreated urine samples were studied using the Sysmex UF-1000i and compared with results obtained from quantitative manual microscopy using the Fuchs-Rosenthal counting chamber. RESULTS: Using Pearson statistics, we observed satisfactory correlation between the UF-1000i and quantitative microscopy: for red blood cells (RBCs) r was 0.98, for white blood cells (WBCs) r was 1.00, for epithelial cells (EC) r was 0.96, and for casts r was 0.69. Using linear regression statistics, we also observed satisfactory correlation between the UF-1000i and quantitative microscopy: for RBCs R(2) was 0.95, for WBCs R(2) was 0.99, for EC R(2) was 0.92, and for casts R(2) was 0.48. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, automated urine particle analysis performed using the Sysmex UF-1000i analyzer is sufficiently precise and improves the workflow in a routine laboratory. Precision was satisfactory and concordance with the reference method is good for RBC, WBC and EC; for casts microscopic observation is required for flagged samples to discriminate hyaline from pathologic casts.
Subject(s)
Microscopy/methods , Urinalysis/instrumentation , Urine/cytology , Automation , Data Interpretation, Statistical , Epithelial Cells/cytology , Erythrocyte Count , Humans , Kidney Diseases/diagnosis , Leukocyte Count , Urinalysis/methodsABSTRACT
Because urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a quite common disease, the gold standard for diagnosing UTIs is still bacterial culture, although a large percentage of samples are negative: unnecessary cultures can be reduced by means of an effective screening test. The analytic performance of a new urine cytometer, the UF-1000i, has been tested on 1463 urine samples submitted to our laboratory for culture. Bacteria and leukocyte counts have been compared by means of the UF-1000i with colony-forming unit (CFU) quantification on citrate lactose electrolytes deficient agar to assess the best cutoff values. By using quantitative cultures and considering as positive a sample with 10 x 10(5) CFU/mL, 546 positive samples (37%) were observed. If compared with 10 x 10(5) CFU/mL, the cutoff values obtained were 125 bacteria/microL and 40 leukocytes/ microL, respectively. Analytic parameters such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and correctly classified incidence were satisfactory. Based on the results obtained in this study, when using the UF-1000i analyzer for a screening test for UTI, a cutoff value of 40 white blood cells/microL should be adopted. The cutoff value for bacteria should be 125/microL for those clinical conditions in which 10 x 10(5) CFU/mL indicates a positivity.
