Significance in Patient Monitoring and HIV Management

Description

PIMA™ Analyser is an important document when dealing with patients. The equipment gives the medical staff the ability to monitor patients while they are under their care. The equipment contains Pima™ CD4 Cartridge and Pima™ Analyser, making it possible for the CD4 test to occur. The CD4 T-cell analysis is undertaken at the point-of-care from a venous whole-blood sample or finger stick that can happen for 20 minutes. Glencross et al., 2012 indicates that the machine is the most affordable and effective tool that can be used to manage patients affected with HIV. Glencross et al., 2012 describe equipment is designed in a specific manner to ensure healthcare staff gets their needs addressed. The use of the equipment happens both in offices and laboratories.

Costs and usage needs associated with the machine

Jani et al., 2014 aludes the machine comes with convenience making it one of the best that the medical profession. It makes the results needed to quickly provide efficiency to both patients and medical professionals. Linking the convenience to the machine's cost, you realize the machine is economical in the long run. It indicates how less costly the machine becomes for both patients and staff with only one reagent required. Further, the machine has got little maintenance costs; it is the best since sometimes the clinical practice setup requires machines that can withstand harsh conditions.

Glencross et al., 2012 indicates thet the cost maintainance and usage of the machine is easy. The machine is portable, and its handling makes it an efficient machine to handle. Besides, the machine can withstand harsh conditions and durable even when chemicals find their way to its surface. Because of its portability ability, the equipment can usage is comfortable when undertaking outreach activities. The machine has an inbuilt control system that enables users to have a humble time using it. Despite all these, there is a disadvantage since the machine cannot handle more than five samples within an hour (Glencross et al., 2012). However, it’s possible to have 2 to 3 machines running at the same time. When it comes to setting up the machine, the procedure is not complex, and it does not require any extra reagents that are needed except for the casessette. The machine has got little downtime and challenges associated with the battery life. If it is required to work for a longer period, one can continuously plug it to power until the testing session ends. There is good value for the money invested and the accurate results that it gives.

Principles of use and operation

Other than the above positive facts about the machine, it has an integrated display that can enable different aspects of the testing process to take place with ease. Glencross et al., 2012 inddicates that the machine has a keyboard that provides the capability of data entry in a more controlled way. It has the sample ID and Operator ID. It is through this, the quality of the results of the testing process can be achieved. The machine’s interconnected nature enables the medical staff to store and print data simultaneously. When this takes place, it avoids losing crucial data that helps in the decision-making processes. Medical staff can also check the history of patients with ease forming informed decisions based on evidence. The capability is one area that makes the machine one of the best.

Due to the efficiency that the machine gives to medical staff, medical staff must adopt the machine. The machine will give the necessary support required to address HIV control measures. Testing has been the main approach used in ensuring that the spreading of HIV is reduced all over the globe. With the cost of HIV becoming higher, the healthcare facilities and medical staff should be proactive towards having better equipment that will help reduce costs.

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References

Glencross et al., 2012. Performance evaluation of the Pima™ point-of-care CD4 analyser using capillary blood sampling in field tests in South Africa. J Int AIDS Soc. 15: 3.

Jani et al., 2014. Accurate CD4 T-cell enumeration and antiretroviral drug toxicity monitoring in primary healthcare clinics using point-of-care testing. AIDS. 15:807–812.