The equipment medical labs use is magnitudes better in quality than anything you can buy retail. For one, most of the readings are automated an analyzed by computers. Changing the algorithm will change the readings and I believe that is where any laboratory errors are generated. No test result is 100% accurate; we can't build instrumentation that good. There is always a margin of error. in the labs I'd expect something like a <.5% error possibility. Equipment you and I would buy has a lot greater margin of error. Plus, the labs are consistent in how the test is performed. Home testing not so much. Thus the samples we take at home may not be as reliable as what the pros can do. I reported on three blood pressure devices some time ago and the readings from the lowest to the highest between machines varied by more than 50%. What does that tell you?
All the above is understandable. I worked with test equipment all my professional life and know something about how tests should be performed. True, I was testing radios not people, but the principles are the same. There is no excuse for medical labs to come up with contradictory results. You and I can easily make mistakes, but it should not be so easy for highly trained people using very expensive equipment that can determine the course of my life.
Standard Dimensions
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Re: Standard Dimensions
Well, even computers can make errors due to the arithmetic shift-left on how they perform calculations.
A 5 to 10% error on home testing equipment is to be expected, but not 20 to 50% or more.
If a single device is always used for testing, whether it reads a bit too high or a bit too low is usually not that important, because you are tracking readings over a long period of time to see whether your BP is rising or going down over that time period. But wild readings each time you test means the device is useless.
I think one of the problems is we are flooded with low-cost Chinese knock-offs that look like the real thing, but are in fact garbage stuck together with no concern about accuracy, regardless of what claims they make.
I have a gram scale here that I've owned now for over 20 years. I always check it before blending a formula to make sure the reading are correct. It has been dead on and has never pitched an error all these years.
And dig this, I did not buy a 200 dollar gram scale either, I bought a double decimal digit postal scale made by the same company as the more expensive units. 20 years ago it only cost around 30 bucks, today that same scale would cost around 200 bucks I'm sure. I have a set of certified weights, not that I need them. I can use our US paper currency to test the unit as well. If I put 5 bills on the scale it shows 5 grams. If I put 100 paper bills on the scale it shows 100 grams.
Depending on how dirty the bills are, the 100ths place decimals may fluctuate upwards but rarely do they ever change the 10ths of a gram digit, unless I'm up over 100 bills on the scale.
I do know today's postal scales are not as accurate as the one I was lucky enough to buy. And most do not have even a tenths of gram display. A few of the more expensive do, but I've never seen a postal scale with 100s place digits in many years. For that accuracy you have to move up to lab quality scales.
A 5 to 10% error on home testing equipment is to be expected, but not 20 to 50% or more.
If a single device is always used for testing, whether it reads a bit too high or a bit too low is usually not that important, because you are tracking readings over a long period of time to see whether your BP is rising or going down over that time period. But wild readings each time you test means the device is useless.
I think one of the problems is we are flooded with low-cost Chinese knock-offs that look like the real thing, but are in fact garbage stuck together with no concern about accuracy, regardless of what claims they make.
I have a gram scale here that I've owned now for over 20 years. I always check it before blending a formula to make sure the reading are correct. It has been dead on and has never pitched an error all these years.
And dig this, I did not buy a 200 dollar gram scale either, I bought a double decimal digit postal scale made by the same company as the more expensive units. 20 years ago it only cost around 30 bucks, today that same scale would cost around 200 bucks I'm sure. I have a set of certified weights, not that I need them. I can use our US paper currency to test the unit as well. If I put 5 bills on the scale it shows 5 grams. If I put 100 paper bills on the scale it shows 100 grams.
Depending on how dirty the bills are, the 100ths place decimals may fluctuate upwards but rarely do they ever change the 10ths of a gram digit, unless I'm up over 100 bills on the scale.
I do know today's postal scales are not as accurate as the one I was lucky enough to buy. And most do not have even a tenths of gram display. A few of the more expensive do, but I've never seen a postal scale with 100s place digits in many years. For that accuracy you have to move up to lab quality scales.
Re: Standard Dimensions
One advantage the medical testers have is a readily available calibration lab. Even crap equipment can be calibrated at one point or another on the scale; linearity is something else and only good equipment has it. As far as BP machines go, they range in price from $30 to about $150. After that there is a huge gap in price. The next level BP machine costs about $600 and is most likely to be found in hospitals. I like the hospital machines because they take the human out of the measuring formula; fewer errors that way. But, blood pressure isn't the kind of thing caregivers worry about at any one given time. It's the blood tests that go beyond vital statistics that give me a lot of concern. Some lab's error can cause my doctor to make a wrong decision and treat me for something I don't need to be treated for. My cancer treatment would involve either radiation treatment or hormone therapy or both. Collateral damage is inherent in both. My wife had an MRI done and the pathologist thought he saw an aneurysm in her brain. The neurologist she saw after that was all ready to do surgery. A second opinion claimed the abnormality was due to the way the image was taken and didn't look like an aneurysm to him. Thus no brain surgery; and, that was a dozen years ago. So, apparently, the second interpretation was the correct one.
There is no choice but to put your trust into somebody and hope for the best. Thousands of people die each year due to false test results and misdiagnoses. Hopefully I won't be one of those casualties.
There is no choice but to put your trust into somebody and hope for the best. Thousands of people die each year due to false test results and misdiagnoses. Hopefully I won't be one of those casualties.
Re: Standard Dimensions
I hear ya Yogi! I think the doctors and hospitals kill more people than all the wars combined, hi hi.
Speaking of which, I have a doctors appointment in 1 hour, so had better get a move on here.
Have a great day!
Speaking of which, I have a doctors appointment in 1 hour, so had better get a move on here.
Have a great day!