ABSTRACT
Most analyses of blood glucose concentrations in our hospital are performed bedside by nurses with One Touch II blood glucose meters. The laboratory is responsible for the test results and therefore a quality control system which includes the performance by the nurses, is necessary. Human serum, spiked sterilised horse blood and (spiked) human blood were tested with 39 One Touch II blood glucose meters for usefulness in extra-laboratory quality control schemes. Serum gave high imprecision (CV > 9%) and leaked through the strips, contaminating the meters. Horse blood gave unacceptable imprecision (CV = 6.7%) and human blood could not be used due to an unpredictable time course of the glucose values in the distributed samples. Addition of NaF increased the CV of the measurements by more than 2%. Only the One Touch control solutions (3 levels) resulted in satisfactory precision (CV = ca. 4%) and are therefore suitable for extra-laboratory quality control of precision. However, accuracy control has to be done within the laboratory with fresh human blood.
