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The Bay Area Point of Care Coordinators (BAPOCC)
recently held their Spring meeting in Walnut Creek, CA. Striving
to offer an event that delivered significant value to its members
and avoid another “dry” seminar, Robyn Medeiros, QA/POCT/Education
Manager at El Camino Hospital and Susan Woo, CLS, MT(ASCP)M of
Kaiser Permanente collaborated with RNA Medical to secure quality
control industry renowned professor, author and AACC speaker,
Sharon L. Ehrmeyer, Ph. D. as the keynote speaker to anchor the
day’s event. Professor Ehrmeyer delivered two very interactive and
informative presentations, the first on recent updates in POC
testing regulatory requirements and the second on building a
quality control program for POCT. She emphasized the need for all
laboratories and POC testing areas to develop a rigorous quality
control program and to approach electronic and automatic QC
programs with caution. In her presentation, Dr. Ehrmeyer stated
that “there is a very important role for external liquid QC and
that will never go away.”
Also presenting topics were Howard Koo, Regional Director of
Laboratory Quality and Compliance, from Kaiser Permanente and
Jackie Coleman, Ph. D., Sr. Clinical Scientist, for
Accumetrics.
Mr Koo talked about the unique requirements of the state of
California with regard to laboratory quality and regulatory
requirements. He also emphasized that quality control is more than
a matter of compliance; it is critical to patient safety. Dr.
Coleman presented a lively discussion of how the Accumetrics
VerifyNow™ assay is used to determine the level of patient
response to aspirin or Plavix® therapy. Peer-reviewed studies were
presented that show by assessing a patient's level of platelet
inhibition, therapies can be adjusted, as well as bleeding levels
predicted, providing an improved outcome for the patient.
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Rounding out the day’s events was a panel discussion that featured
Professor Ehrmeyer, Mr. Koo, Valerie Ng, Ph. D., M.D., Director of
the Clinical Laboratory at Alameda County Medical Center and Mr.
Randy Byrd CTO/VP R&D from Bionostics, RNA Medical’s parent
company. Many of the questions focused on gaining an understanding
of how to reconcile CLIA, CAP, JCAHO, COLA and California state
requirements. A significant number of questions surrounded the
quandary of when, where and how to employ electronic and automatic
QC offered on many of the newer blood gas analyzers. The general
consensus was that there is still a significant amount of
interpretation required by the laboratory, but that patient safety
is paramount.
During the meeting, RNA Medical announced its newest quality
control offering, the Safe-Wrap Combo Blood Collection Tube, used
for the collection of capillary blood samples for use with i-STAT™
blood gas, electrolyte, and chemistry cartridges requiring either
95 μL or 65 μL of sample. These tubes are Mylar®-wrapped glass
capillaries that have been treated with calcium-balanced lithium
heparin.
Also sponsoring this fast moving and well-attended event were
Abbott POC, Accumetrics and Triad Associates. Attendees received
continuing education credits for Dr. Ehrmeyer’s and Mr Koo’s
presentations.
For information on this or future events contact Paul Shea,
Director of Sales and Business Development at
www.RNAMedical.com.
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