video demo - how I get enough blood regularly

[Protimenow]

For the XS, it's best to use the first drop. And if there's an alcohol wipe before the incision, if there's any residual alcohol, this can skew the results. Personally, I don' t use an alcohol wipe.

The XS, and many other meters, are designed to work with the first drop -- there's a difference between first drop and later drops, and these differences will give you a different value. (For example, on Thursday, I tested with two machines - a Coag-Sense and a CoaguChek XS. The first sample went to the Coag-Sense, and because my incision was still producing good drops of blood, I used a later drop on the CoaguChek XS. The Coag-Sense yielded a 2.4. The XS said 3.1. Although I've often noticed a difference of .2 or .3 from the Coag-Sense to the XS, this difference was a bit higher than expected -- and I think it's because the XS was testing blood that was more similar to VENOUS blood than it was to a first drop of capillary blood).

Your clinic is probably just doing it WRONG -- between the possible alcohol residual on the skin and the later drop, it's reporting INRs that are higher than the lab would report.

(And not all labs are that accurate, either)

 

[Aggie85]

As noted in my other thread, I'll double check what machine they use and will have them try with first drop to see if that makes a difference. I'm also going to specifically ask the pharmacist what the procedure should be to verify if tech is doing it incorrectly. You may be right, he seems competent but may be repeating bad process to point of confidence when he's got it wrong.

The tech MAY (or may not) be doing it wrong, but then he's doing it wrong for ALL patients. So results would be skewed for all. The pharmacist went back and checked all the patients both of the days I had odd results. I was the ONLY one who had unexplained high numbers on the POC machine and out of whack with the subsequent blood draw.

Thanks for the clarification about the alcohol wipes. From what I see of added directions, cleanliness is key and make sure alcohol is air dried thoroughly.

HAPPY FATHER DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF YOUR KIDS AND FAMILIES!
Linda