Abbott i-STAT 1, System Manual

Page: 303 / 658

3
Art: 714260-00N Rev. Date: 19-Jan-12
The following codes are associated with the cartridge or fluid movement within a cartridge. These
conditions can be operator or sample related. In most cases, a new cartridge must be used. If a
condition persists, especially if isolated to one analyzer, there may an analyzer problem.
Code
Number
Cause/Action
Message on Display
Explanation
19 No Clot Detected / See
Manual
During the PT/INR cycle, no clot was detected. Run another
cartridge. If code 19 reappears, run the sample on an alternate
methodology.
22, 25 Cartridge Error
/ Use
Another Cartridge
These codes occur only for coagulation cartridges if the mixing
of the sample and reagent is compromised. This can be
caused by an insufficient or clotted sample, or by air bubbles in
the sample.
24 Cartridge Error
/ Use
Another Cartridge
The electrical resistance of the calibrant fluid (Rcal) used to
verify the electrolyte concentration is out of specification. This
could occur if the calibrant pack was ruptured well before
the test allowing evaporation to result in a higher electrolyte
concentration.
Besides the electrolyte concentration, the Rcal is also
affected by the temperature and the height and width of the
fluid segment over the conductometric sensor. The analyzer
accounts for the temperature, but the height and width of
the fluid segment can vary from cartridge lot to cartridge lot.
The analyzer has been programmed to compensate for these
lot-to-lot differences by maintaining a running average of the
Rcal values measured from the most recent cartridge runs.
Occasionally, the difference between the Rcal values for two
cartridge lots is large enough to cause the introduction of a new
lot to trigger code 24 on the first few cartridge runs. The Code
24 errors should disappear as the running average adjusts.
However, if code 24 persists after more than 3 cartridge runs on
each analyzer, contact i-STAT Technical Services or your local
support organization.
26 Cartridge Error
/ Use
Another Cartridge
This code occurs if there was a coagulation specific quality
check failure: premature substrate activation, abnormally low
levels of substrate, or invalid fluid motion.
20, 27-29,
32, 33, 40,
41, 45, 87 Cartridge Error
/ Use
Another Cartridge
These codes identify problems with the cartridge such as:
calibrant fluid arriving too soon, too late, or not at all, or noise
in the calibrant fluid signals. Codes 20, 27, 41, and 87 can
be caused by poor contact that can sometimes be corrected
by conditioning the pins in the analyzer using the ceramic
conditioning cartridge. The specific conditioning procedure is
described at the end of this bulletin.
The rate of quality check code 45 can be elevated when
cartridges are run without allowing sufficient time for the
cartridges to equilibrate to room temperature. To minimize the
number of quality check codes, review i-STAT cartridge storage
conditions and allow sufficient time for refrigerated cartridges
to equilibrate to room temperature.