Proof of concept: stabilized whole blood material suitable for external quality assessment of near-patient testing devices

Abstract

Even though reliable glucose concentration measurements are essential in diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes mellitus, external quality assurance based on mandatory reference method values can only be conducted to a limited extent for measurements in whole blood. The reason is the lack of stabilized whole blood materials suitable for the application in glucose measurement devices used in near-patient testing.

Keywords

• external quality control
• glucose concentration measurement
• near-patient testing
• patient self-testing
• quality assurance
• reference method