Home INR monitoring and meter calibration

[Kalman]

I was in hospital recently and the anti-coagulation people said I should get my home Coaguchek XS meter, which I have had for about 6 years, calibrated. They could not do this. I phoned the helpline who said that calibration was not necessary as there is a new chip with every new test strip pack. However the person was a bit vague. Does anyone else know anything about calibrating home meters? There is a scheme for calibrating NHS meters which will get much more use, but not home ones.

[Hidden]

Hi,

My understanding is that there is no such thing as calibration for this device. The chip you get in the packet of test strips provides the quality control when you drop your blood on the test strip. This is why you get the message QC on the screen. If the test strip was defective, for what ever reason you would get an error message which would force you to refer to the User Guide for instructions. To do a test you would need to discard the defective test strip and put in a new one and start again.

I have this device, and have had it for about the same time as you've had yours. No problems. My current GP checks my device against the surgery devices every 10 INR Tests and the results are usually + or - 0.1 which is an acceptable variance. Unless you do smethng , like accidentally drop it there is no need to send it back to Roche.

Cheers

John

[MarkS]

I calibrate mine every 6 months. I check my INR on my Coaguchek then go to the surgery and get a blood draw. That evening I get an email with my INR from the blood draw and check it's within 0.1 or 0.2 of the Coaguchek. That's all there is to it.

Mark

[Dodie117]

I get my INR checked at the INR clinic approx every 3 months and I check my own reading against theirs.