Formative  Meeting

Kathy Anestis opened the meeting and initiated introductions. Kim Gregory welcomed the group, and reviewed the scheduled agenda.

There was much discussion regarding a name for this group. Inquiries have been made from as far away as Michigan and New York, but it was decided that it would be more practical to keep the group smaller. It was decided that the bulk of the members would be from New England, especially Massachusetts. However, the group will remain open and available for any out-of-state people who may be interested.  Concerns regarding drive times to future meetings were raised, and it was determined that meeting locations will be centrally located, in order to keep travel time for all members at or under 1 hour.  The name for this group was then decided: Bay State POCT Collaborative.

Mission: To provide a confidential forum for all individuals interested in point of care testing to share information and ideas, offer support and promote POCT to the medical profession

All members were urged to spread the good word about the group, and contact any POCT managers who may be interested. 

Kim Gregory has posted notice of the group on the POCT listserv at the AACC website, and has been working with a POCT connectivity vendor (MAS) that has offered to create and sponsor a website for the group. Sue Ravagni expressed interest in helping to create and maintain this website.

No formal “officers” to be elected, but a volunteer moderator will be chosen for each meeting to help keep the discussions in line and the agenda on track.  Kim Gregory, Janet Means, Kathy Anestis and Leslie Williams will serve to maintain the administrative needs of the group until otherwise stated.

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Many, many thoughts and suggestions for topics and themes for future meetings:

1. CAP Regulations – each member brings his/her top 5 questions or problems for discussion;

2. Post-Inspection Debriefing – members who have just undergone inspections present the things inspectors looked for, etc.

3. Guest Speakers – laboratory medical directors, AACC speakers (CAP regional directors, JCAHO inspectors etc)

4. Vendor Presentations

5. Group Presentations – any member of the group wishing to present may do so

6. Open Discussion – lots of interest in having open and unstructured time to exchange ideas, socialize, etc.

7. Billing and Cost Analysis – how it pertains to POCT

8. New Technologies – what’s available and up and coming

9. Connectivity – barcodes, downloading, etc.

10. Compliance – RN support, POCT committee structure,admin. support, etc.

Kim Gregory to look into the possibility of CEU credit for the group meetings.

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Who keeps the competency records? Who is responsible for training the nursing staff?

It appears that hospitals having nursing education departments allow the nurse educators to train all new and existing staff. POCT competency exams are distributed at orientation and then annually, as part of the required nursing yearly competency. Nurse managers often assume responsibility for the competency of their staff, keeping the records on the units and signing off that all staff have read the manuals and completed the testing.   Some POCT managers present at the monthly orientation for new staff, handling all glucometer training and competency. Videos, observed QC performance and yearly “competency dates” are also used to maintain staff competency. Operator lockout for those staff who have not complied with QC, QA or competency requirements – a hot topic! Pros and cons abound: creates too much work for the POCT manager to constantly update the user list; glucometer “deletes” non-compliant operators; staff always finds ways to get around lockouts.

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