Journal of clinical pathology
-
To compare the reliability and relative costs of three international normalised ratio (INR) near patient tests. ⋯ All three near patient test systems are safe and efficient for producing acceptable and reproducible INR results within the therapeutic range in a primary care setting. All the systems were, however, subject to operator dependent variables at the time of blood letting. Adequate training in capillary blood sampling, specific use of the machines, and quality assurance procedures is therefore essential.