Development of a hand-held blood potassium testing kit for patient’s home use

A collaboration between Cambridge University Hospitals and the University of Cambridge has led to early developments towards a sensor kit which would allow patients to check their own blood potassium levels at home.

The proposed kit would consist of a small handheld device, similar to glucometers used by people with diabetes, coupled with single use, disposable test strips to measure potassium levels from a very small drop of blood from a finger-prick, as demonstrated below.

As you may know, kidneys regulate body potassium levels; this is important for nerves and muscles including the heart. When kidneys do not work properly it is important to know the blood level so that diet or medication can be adjusted to correct as needed. As a kidney patient, we believe you might benefit from such a kit and would like to gather your honest opinion to help us in further developing this technology.

The survey should only take 5 minutes and your responses are completely anonymous.

This picture is only used for demonstration, not the final product.

Image is a derivative of Blausen.com staff (2014). "Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014". WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.