Good laboratory practice includes use of standard biological safety precautions, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), regular training and use of standard operating procedure to minimise the risk of healthcare-related transmission to staff or patients. For some conditions, like diabetes, point-of-care testing has already drastically altered … Typically POCT is performed by non-laboratory staff, mainly medical and nursing staff, outside of the main laboratory. Point-of-care testing products (POCT) and devices from HemoCue are used in a broad spectrum of clinical settings all over the world, to meet the needs of health care professionals. For analyzers used in POCT these important factors should be kept in mind: 6. Concerns that have arisen with the POCT include problems with ensuring quality, potential conflicts of interest, and an uncertainty of the responsibility [2]. Responsibilities of the Director of Clinical Laboratory: The local hospital pathology laboratory should play a key role in the development and management of a POCT service. An article concerning the last four phases: implementation, introducing POCT devices/processes, quality, and accreditations will follow in October 2015. Point-of-care (POC) programs require close collaboration among healthcare institutions, device manufacturers, and information technology vendors in the future. Its complexity ranges from simple dipstick test to sophisticated analyzer test. Innovative technologies that utilize algorithms and ML now enable Point of Care testing (POCT) devices to produce quantitative lab-quality test results, including some with CLIA waivers. Therefore fewer efforts are made to establish a complete POCT setup. Notifies the Clinical Laboratory upon receiving any shipment of specified POCT materials, supplies or devices. This Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) guidance is for people involved in the management and use of POCT services in primary and secondary care including: While many of the issues are relevant to the performance of POCT in a hospital environment, the principles also apply to their use in: Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. This is particularly true for secondary care and may also be useful for some primary care services. Considering the growing field of POCT it is now time for all the stakeholders to manage all aspects of POCT in a systematic and professional manner and to take control over this area. The Point of Care Testing (PoCT) section section offers support for all departments using PoCT instruments across Oxford University Hospitals and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. All POCT is typically under the direction, authority, and jurisdiction of the Chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. POC diagnostic devices are used to test glucose and cholesterol levels, do electrolyte and enzyme analysis, test for drugs of abuse and for infectious diseases, and for pregnancy testing. This differs from medical laboratory testing, which entails sending specimens away from the point of care and then waiting hours or days to learn the results, during which time care must continue without the desired information. Point-of-care testing (POCT) – Requirements for quality and competence. Representation from all the stakeholders should be included in POCT Committee, e.g. Thus the quality framework needs to be designed in a way that avoids unnecessary complexity and encourages its adoption rather POCT already covers a broad range of pathology and non-pathology testing. POCT has a range of complexity and procedures that vary from manual methodologies to automated analyzers. The volume of POCT testing is rapidly increasing with an annual growth rate of 12 % to 15 %. POCT is typically performed by non-laboratory personnel and the results are used for clinical decision making. Guidance for healthcare professionals covers the use, management and safety of in vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices, including blood glucose meters. laboratory staff, clinicians, nursing staff, specialty nurses, pharmacists, IT and finance.