Procedures
for properly handling blood to
do cholesterol testing that increases accuracy (organized in order of
execution) |
| Step |
Description |
Mistakes |
| 1. |
Read CardioChek manual
and this printout |
rule #4 |
| 2. |
Fast for 12 hours only if
you will be testing triglycerides to get optimal accuracy |
mistake #12 |
| 3. |
Do physical exercise to
get ‘blood pumping’ before lancing finger to get larger blood drop |
mistake #4,5 |
| 4. |
Thoroughly clean finger
preferably with alcohol prep pad |
mistake #2 |
| 5. |
Use properly sized lancet
to ensure large enough blood drop; avoid undersized lancets used only
for testing glucose |
rule #2
mistake #4,7 |
| 6. |
Lance finger on the side
of finger |
mistake #8 |
| 7. |
Use 2nd drop
of blood from finger; wipe 1st drop away with cloth (very
important) |
mistake #1,2 |
| 8. |
Use freely dangling blood
drop |
mistake #5,11 |
| 9. |
Place capillary under
freely dangling blood drop |
mistake #5,11 |
| 10. |
Use capillary filled with
blood to indicator line |
mistake #4 |
| 11. |
Remove memo chip from
vial and insert into top side of analyzer |
mistake #6,9,10 |
| 12. |
Remove test strip from
vial and slide test strip into analyzer |
mistake #6,9,10 |
| 13. |
Apply blood to test strip
within 1 minute after removing it from vial |
mistake #6,9,10 |
| 14. |
Keep other tests inside
vial with sealed lid and only open lid to remove test for immediate use |
mistake #6,9,10 |
| 15. |
Drip blood being squeezed
(or plunged) from capillary onto test strip without making contact |
mistake 3,13,14 |
Common Mistakes
made while handling blood to
do cholesterol testing that reduce accuracy (ranked in order of
importance) |
| Mistake |
Description |
| 1. |
Don’t use 1st
drop of blood; rather, remove 1st drop with a cloth then use
2nd drop |
| 2. |
Don’t use `contaminated
blood` from 1st drop, lancing tip of finger, or not properly
cleaning finger |
| 3. |
Don’t try to apply blood
directly onto test strip without capillary; rather, always use a
capillary |
| 4. |
Don’t settle for too
little blood in capillary whereby blood does not reach the indicator
line |
| 5. |
Don’t squeeze blood from
finger; rather, massage top hand then work massage down |
| 6. |
Don’t wait longer than 1
minute to apply blood from capillary to test strip |
| 7. |
Don’t used an undersized
(glucose) lancet because cholesterol testing requires more blood than
glucose |
| 8. |
Don’t lance the tip of
finger and get `contaminated blood`; rather, lance side of finger
|
| 9. |
Don’t let test strips
remain outside of vial for more than 1 minute before using it |
| 10. |
Don’t let tests inside
vial get exposed to light and humidity by leaving vial open with an
unsealed lid |
| 11. |
Don’t force blood in the
capillary; rather, allow blood drop to tangle over capillary
|
| 12. |
Don’t eat for 12 hours if
you will be testing triglycerides |
| 13. |
Don’t let blood remain in
capillary by failing to place finger over the ‘breath’ hole of capillary |
| 14. |
Don’t let capillary make
contact with test strip |
