Profile of Admission Chemical Data by Multichannel Automation: An Evaluative Experiment

Abstract

In an experiment comparing the clinical chemical data obtained for incoming hospital patients from samples of blood submitted to the routine laboratory and from samples analyzed automatically, a multichannel analyzer was employed. The constituents determined, chosen on the basis of the frequency with which they were ordinarily requested, were glucose, urea, sodium, potassium, chloride, carbon dioxide content, calcium, phosphorus, total protein, albumin, and uric acid. In a significant fraction of the patients admitted at three different hospitals the profile of admission chemical determinations indicated abnormal values which had not been sought by the physician and which often were of direct help to him and benefit to the patient.