Hospital Point-of-Care Testing Issues and Solutions
Pennell C. Painter, MS, PhD, DLM(ASCP)
Director of Laboratory Operations LabCorp Knoxville and University of Tennessee Medical Center Knoxville, TN
Professor Emeritus of Pathology University of Tennessee Medical Center Knoxville, TN
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Upon completion of this program, you will be able to:
- Describe issues related to point-of-care testing (POCT) in hospitals
- Identify which POC tests pose special quality-related and regulatory-related risks to the facility
- Recognize how to mitigate risks by putting in sustainable solutions to assure testing reliability and regulatory compliance
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Point-of-care testing (POCT) has seen tremendous growth in the past 10 years both in type and number of tests. A large hospital with 60 laboratory testing personnel may have 1300 people certified to do whole blood glucose testing alone, making the ratio of nonlaboratory to laboratory test personnel 20:1 or more. Because the hospital laboratory typically has oversight responsibility for some or all of the POCT done in a hospital, laboratory personnel must understand what is going on with POCT and how it can directly impact the main hospital's laboratory operation. POCT has unique quality and regulatory issues that dictate a cascade of actions and responsibilities impacting all testing areas and all testing personnel. Proficiency-testing failures in POCT areas can pose a special risk to the main laboratory and even cause the main laboratory to cease testing for an analyte that failed proficiency testing on a POCT device. These and other issues related to POCT testing in hospitals are reviewed. Processes to create sustainable testing reliability and regulatory compliance while significantly reducing risk are discussed.
Intended Audience:Practicing Pathologists, Residents, Doctoral Scientists, Pathologists’ Assistants, Laboratory Managers, Bench Supervisors, Bench Technologists & Technicians, Phlebotomists, Students
The ASCP designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activities.
ASCP designates this activity for a maximum of 1 CMLE credits. This activity meets CMP and state licensure requirements for laboratory personnel.