Pregnancy testing is done by confirming the presence of the beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) hormone in the blood or urine of the patient. Most doctors would usually advise women to use urine hCG tests at home to determine if they are pregnant. While this type of test is widely accessible and cheaper, urine self-test kits are more susceptible to producing false results. The best way to decrease false results and increase the accuracy of these tests is to use blood testing.
Here are some reasons why it is better to use hCG blood testing than urine testing.
Why hCG blood testing is better than urine pregnancy testing?
Blood testing is more accurate than urine testing. Blood tests detect low levels of hCG, increasing their accuracy rate. These tests are also quantitative, providing doctors with accurate numbers that they can use to monitor the health of the patients.
Urine tests can report false negatives since they can only detect elevated levels of hCG in the urine. This makes early detection much more likely to be inaccurate.
i-STAT in detecting the early signs of pregnancy
Knowing your patient’s pregnancy status allows you to make informed decisions about the health of the mother and the fetus. While using a urine pregnancy test is the usual determinator of pregnancy, its limitations can pose challenges to the delivery of safe, high-quality, and efficient care.
Healthcare providers can provide faster and more accurate pregnancy testing through I-STAT. The i-STAT total β-hCG is a handheld pregnancy test that uses whole blood to provide lab-quality results in 10 minutes.
The i-STAT system is a diagnostic device which provides fast and reliable lab-quality results within minutes. With the help of the i-STAT system, healthcare professionals can now get accurate results faster and without leaving the patient’s bedside.
