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NEWS
Quest Diagnostics HemoCue Subsidiary to Add U.S.
Hospital Laboratory Connectivity to Its HemoCue 201
DM Point-of-Care
Click here
Radiometer Announces Limited Launch of ABL®
Series Blood Gas Analyzer Module to RALS®-Plus
Click here
Blood Glucose Benchmarking
Results in
U.S. Hospitals for 2008 Announced
Click here
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POC
GROUPS
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POC Groups Turning to
Online Webinars
In light of
current economic conditions,
budget
restraints, travel and volunteerism, a number of
POC groups throughout the country have struggled
to maintain semi-annual or quarterly meetings.

On April
29, 2009, the
Virginia POCCs
decided to do something about that and held the
first online meeting via WebEx! The response
and attendance to their CAP focused event was
overwhelming and flawless. Now other POC
group leaders across the country are anxious to
get started with meetings on the web to
supplement their face-to-face meetings.
Click here for more!
Pieces of the POCT puzzle
Point-of-care testing: changing the way
patient care is delivered
By Kristin N. Hale, BS, BA, and Gerald J. Kost,
MD, PhD, MS, FACB, Medical Laboratory Observer,
June 2009
Point-of-care testing (POCT) is defined as
testing at or near the site of patient care. The
goal of POCT is to facilitate rapid diagnosis
and faster treatment decisions to improve
patient care and reduce morbidity and
mortality.1 POCT impacts every branch of the
healthcare system, including hospitals,
outpatients, and disaster and emergency
situations. The ability of POCT to be utilized
in all these respective locations has
demonstrated the significant potential POCT has
to positively impact and change the way
healthcare is delivered to the patient
population — ultimately, with the goal of
improving patient care — wherever that may be.
More >
Positive Patient Outcomes
The Joint Commission has implemented key changes
in 2009 that enhance focus on quality and
patient safety.
By Margaret
Peck, MS, MT (ASCP) Advance for Admin of the Lab:
May 2009
Safe, quality patient care is highly dependent
on the excellence of laboratory services, yet
laboratories quite often rely on external
processes and staff that impact its ability to
provide timely, quality results. The landmark
1999 Institute of Medicine report To Err is
Human stated that 70 percent of laboratory
errors occur in the pre- and post-analytical
phases of laboratory testing. Therefore, the
interface between the clinical laboratory and
other care providers can be a crucial part of
the entire scope of the provision of lab
services.
More >
Aiming
for Lab-like Accuracy
at the
Point of Care
CAP Today, April 2009, Feature Story, By Brendan
Dabkowski
American
frontiersman and gunslinger Wyatt Earp is credited
with the gem “fast is fine, but accuracy is
everything.”
Though physicians at
the point of care are unlikely to find themselves in
an Old West-style gunfight, most, like Earp, would
choose accuracy over speed. And that means makers of
bedside glucose testing systems must be ever
vigilant in meeting customers’ requests for improved
accuracy.
“The primary need for clinicians using POC glucose
monitors is that they give accurate results—even in
the presence of interfering substances like maltose,
abnormal hematocrit, ascorbate, etc.—so that correct
treatment decisions can be made,” says Ron Newby,
Nova Biomedical’s director of marketing. Also
crucial: obtaining the right glucose read the first
time, at the point of care, to eliminate the
“time-wasting need for repeat measurements,” he
says. Analyzers must deliver results quickly, but
without sacrificing accuracy. Hospitals now face the
“need to provide even higher levels of accuracy in
handheld devices, in effect delivering lab-like
accuracy at the bedside,” says Mary Catherine Coyle,
MS, MT(ASCP), director of product marketing in the
professional diagnostics division of Roche
Diagnostics.
More >
Win-Win POCT
Scott
Warner, MLT(ASCP),
ADVANCE
for Administrators of the Laboratory
Vol. 18 • Issue 3 • Page 10 At
the Bedside
Imagine 10
employees in your small hospital laboratory.
Suddenly, there are 30 more performing tests on all
shifts, and as a manager you aren't sure if they are
fully trained or understand quality control (QC)
concepts. This can happen with point-of-care testing
(POCT).
With diabetes being the sixth
leading cause of death1and accounting for 22 percent
of hospital charges,2your hospital's POCT program is
a crucial part of managing inpatient diabetic care.
Your partnership with nursing is the key to success,
whether starting from scratch or upgrading an
existing program.
More
Click here for more stories
in our Article Archives... |
UPCOMING EVENTS!


Division Mixer and Awards Ceremony
Click here
POCC Forum
A look at the role
of POCT in promoting a culture of
patient safety in the hospital setting.
Click here to Register
Click here
to RSVP for...

A
Special Dinner Buffet
and Social Event for POCCs

Program Information I
Hotel Information
POC
Specialist Certificate Program

Recently, a need to ensure adequate training and preparation for
these providers has emerged, leading the AACC Critical and
Point-of-Care Testing (CPOCT) Division to develop a comprehensive
online program to prepare POC coordinators and specialists for their
critical role in promoting standardized best practices in near
patient testing.
Read
more >
POC
LINKS

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