Nova Biomedical StatStrip Glucose Hospital Meter recalled for barcode scanning errors that may assign results to wrong patients
What this means
The StatStrip Glucose Hospital Meter has a software glitch that occasionally causes it to display an old barcode on the screen after scanning a new one. If a healthcare worker doesn't notice the mismatch and approves the test, the glucose result gets recorded in the wrong patient's medical record. This could lead to incorrect treatment decisions, especially for critically ill patients, newborns, and infants.
- Stop using the affected StatStrip meters (Model 66739, software versions 0.00.13.10 through 1.5.14.25) in your facility immediately.
- Contact Nova Biomedical Corporation for instructions on replacement or a software update.
- Review recent test results to identify and correct any results that may have been assigned to the wrong patient.
- Alert your clinical staff about the issue so they understand why the device is being removed from use.
The agency's original wording
A software synchronization/timing issue in the barcode scanning and patient data processing component that causes the device to intermittently retain a previously scanned barcode including patient identification (ID) barcodes and quality control (QC) solution ID barcodes when a new barcode is scanned, resulting in the prior barcode information remaining displayed on the screen for the current test. When this defect occurs and the operator accepts the incorrectly displayed patient information without recognizing the mismatch, the current patient's glucose result will be incorrectly assigned to the previous patient's medical record and transmitted to the data management system (DMS), and the current patient's medical record will not receive a result, leaving their glucose status unrecorded and their clinical management without the information needed to guide treatment decisions. The previous patient, whose medical record now contains a glucose result that does not belong to them, may receive inappropriate clinical intervention based on that erroneous result, particularly in critically ill patients, neonates, and infants who cannot communicate symptoms or self-treat. The defect also affects QC barcode scanning: if a QC scan triggers the same retention behavior, QC results may be attributed to an incorrect identifier or QC tests may fail without the user recognizing the underlying cause. This defect does not affect the analytical accuracy of glucose measurements.
Official notice
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/index.cfm?Product=Z-3129-2026More Nova Biomedical recalls
- FDA-Device2026-09-23Nova Biomedical StatStrip Glucose Meter recalled for patient data mix-up risk
- FDA-Device2026-09-23Nova Biomedical StatStrip Glucose Hospital Meter recalled for patient data mismatch risk
- FDA-Device2026-09-23Nova Biomedical StatStrip Glucose Meter recalled for patient data mislabeling risk
- FDA-Device2026-09-23Nova Biomedical StatStrip Glucose Meter recalled for patient data misassignment risk
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