Practical challenges related to point of care testing.
Pract Lab Med
; 4: 22-29, 2016 Apr 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28856189
Point of care testing (POCT) refers to laboratory testing that occurs near to the patient, often at the patient bedside. POCT can be advantageous in situations requiring rapid turnaround time of test results for clinical decision making. There are many challenges associated with POCT, mainly related to quality assurance. POCT is performed by clinical staff rather than laboratory trained individuals which can lead to errors resulting from a lack of understanding of the importance of quality control and quality assurance practices. POCT is usually more expensive than testing performed in the central laboratory and requires a significant amount of support from the laboratory to ensure the quality testing and meet accreditation requirements. Here, specific challenges related to POCT compliance with accreditation standards are discussed along with strategies that can be used to overcome these challenges. These areas include: documentation of POCT orders, charting of POCT results as well as training and certification of individuals performing POCT. Factors to consider when implementing connectivity between POCT instruments and the electronic medical record are also discussed in detail and include: uni-directional versus bidirectional communication, linking patient demographic information with POCT software, the importance of positive patient identification and considering where to chart POCT results in the electronic medical record.
ADT, Admission, Discharge and Transfer; CSCC, Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists; Connectivity; EMR, electronic medical record; EORLA, Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratories Association; Electronic Medical Record; Laboratory accreditation; Medical directive; POCT, point of care testing; Point of care Testing; Positive patient identification; Results documentation; Transcription error
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudio:
Guideline
/
Prognostic_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Pract Lab Med
Año:
2016
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Canadá
Pais de publicación:
Países Bajos