How are things in Point-of-Care?

Do you know what Point of Care Testing is?

If you do . . . . amazing! Read on!

If you don’t . . . well, you probably do, but you just don’t realize it. (so, read on anyway!)

Point of Care Testing is medical testing that happens near or beside a patient. It means that patients and clinicians gets their test results sooner, allowing for quicker and more immediate care. It works well for everyone, but as you can probably imagine at UHN there is a whole team that is hard at work making sure that the Point-of-Care program and Point -of -Care devices are working smoothly and effectively.

Here is an update from Pauline Diker, a Senior MLT in Client Services and POCT telling about their work:

For the Point of Care Testing unit within LMP, 2012 will go down in history as a monumental year.

This year, the current glucose meter will be phased out mainly due to the fact that is does not support new and cutting edge therapies offered at UHN, namely peritoneal dialysis using Icodextrine-Extraneal solutions.

The detailed process of choosing the new glucose meter device started last year. For the selection of the new meter, LMP POCT engaged multidisciplinary stakeholders representing the users and support staff of the current glucose meter. The team consisted of the POCT Director, POCT Manager, MLTs, Nurse Managers, IT and Nurse Educators just to name a few.  Representatives from SIMS and LIS were the key contributors to the new meter program for UHN. The wish list of requirement for the new meter was created based on a message that was loud and clear. The mandate was to find a meter that analyzes samples fast and used very small volumes of blood. The meter should have network connectivity capability to transmit the completed results into the electronic patient chart (EPR).

Most important, as well, is that device strip technology should not exhibit any interference from maltose, dextrose and galactose that are especially important in UHN peritoneal dialysis population.

Nova Biomedical fulfilled the entire requirements in the shape of compact, but very advanced piece of equipment. The device is called Nova StatStrip® Glucose Meter.

The following statistics of this little device would impress even the most erudite technical savvy Laboratory Technologist:

• The glucose meter is fast-6 seconds for glucose result.

• The volume of blood required is small; only 1.2 microliters of blood.

The Nova StatStrip® glucose strip does not exhibit interference from the maltose, galactose, xylose and lactose.

The RN and Allied Health Care Professionals at UHN are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new meters into their clinical units. The new meter will assist in the immediate assessment and treatment of diabetic patients and their insulin requirements.

The very small volume of blood required contributes to the minimal pain for the patient.

The new meter will include interfacing to the EPR, to allow the results to flow directly into EPR, allowing easy, accurate documentation and retrieval of point of care blood glucose results. The LMP POCT Department plays an integral role in the Health Care Team in terms of delivering these advanced tools for diabetes management and glycemic control for UHN patients.

Presently, the POCT Team activities are centered on the evaluation of the analytical performance of this Nova meter.

Shortly, the POCT team will receive around 200 new meters and oversee the implementation of the meters and the training for approximate   35,00 operators at UHN; Toronto Rehab will follow after the UHN implementation.

You are probably thinking, how a small POCT department will accomplish this enormous task in timely fashion?

Stay tuned!