PRINCETON, N.J., March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Abbott announced
today it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration to begin marketing the i-STAT® 1 Wireless
handheld, a new wireless version of the i-STAT® point of care
testing system that is widely used in hospitals, emergency rooms
and physicians’ offices. The new i-STAT 1 Wireless handheld will
allow real time transmission of diagnostic test results generated
by i-STAT 1 directly from the patient bedside.
“With i-STAT 1 Wireless, caregivers are able to share critical
test information electronically without leaving the patient’s
bedside,” said Greg Arnsdorff, head of Abbott’s point of care
business. “By empowering nurses to stay at the bedside, the new
i-STAT 1 Wireless supports a patient-focused approach to treatment,
allowing for expedited decision making that helps minimize time to
treatment.”
The handheld analyzer can potentially save precious time by
allowing caregivers to perform critical tests at the bedside and
then transmit test results immediately so they can be reviewed by
physicians anywhere they have access to electronic records.
Eliminating back-and-forth movement from the bedside to a
desktop transmission terminal somewhere in the department gives
staff the ability to better focus on the patient.
“With wireless, physicians can receive immediate test
information in the electronic medical record, enabling them to act
quickly when a patient’s clinical status is rapidly changing,”
Arnsdorff said.
With the 10-minute i-STAT cardiac troponin test cartridge, for
example, emergency department staffs can test, transmit and treat
from the bedside. This helps health care providers maintain
compliance with testing guidelines from the American College of
Cardiology and American Heart Association, which call for a
turnaround time of less than 60 minutes. By sharing these test
results via a hospital’s existing wireless network, caregivers
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