Blood Gas

The Blood Gas/ Co-oximetry Programme is available to both Laboratory and Point of Care testing sites, samples are distributed to both Primary and Secondary care sites for quality testing. The linear panel of samples offer the complete repertoire of blood gases, electroytes and metabolites with separate samples available for Co-oximetry analysis.

Tonometered protein based aqueous material is distributed monthly, covering blood gases, electrolytes and metabolites including Haematocrit, Urea, Creatinine and Lactate.

Once a year, tonometered whole blood is distributed as an accuracy check in addition to the aqueous material. This material has identical oxygen saturation characteristics to fresh whole blood and is used to provide an assessment of accuracy for pO2 and in the evaluation of derived parameters (SBC, BE and %O2).

Frequency: Monthly

Samples per set: 3 x 2.5mL samples.

Blood Gas Programme
Analyte	Approx. Range Covered
pH	7.0 - 7.7
H+	20 - 100	nmol/L
pCO2	2 - 10	kPa
pO2	4 - 25	kPa
Actual Bicarb	20 - 30	mmol/L
TCO2	15 - 35	mmol/L
Na+	115 - 160	mmol/L
K+	2 - 6	mmol/L
Cl	76 - 123	mmol/L
Magnesium	0.4 - 1.6	mmol/L
iCa++	0.2 - 1.8	mmol/L
Glucose	1.9 - 23.0	mmol/L
Lactate	0.3 - 6.5	mmol/L
Urea	2.8 - 25.0	mmol/L
Creatinine	30 - 560	µmol/L
Haematocrit	0 - 70	%PCV
Lithium	0.35 - 1.35	mmol/L