Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has recently published 'Quality management: approaches to reducing errors at the point of care; approved guideline (POCT07-A)'.
This document describes a core infrastructure for a standardised error-tracking system targeted to reduce risk and increase quality of point-of-care testing (POCT), while accumulating standardised data for benchmarking use.
The goal of POCT07-A is to improve the performance of POCT by using different indicators, many listed in the document, that are applicable to different aspects of the pre-examination, examination and post-examination phases of testing.
Also, it highlights critical components of a quality management programme and how a central laboratory can play into the coordination of the POCT quality programme.
The document includes tables that provide information about potential sources of error, analytes that may be affected and practical suggestions to mitigate the potential error; appendices with templates and examples that can be easily modified and interpreted; and a case study that readers can follow through to see the whole process of error identification, documentation and corrective action.
'The aim of POCT07-A is to raise awareness of all the steps in the testing process where things can go wrong,' said Valerie Ng, Alameda County Medical Center/Highland General Hospital, and advisor to the subcommittee that developed the guideline.
'The reader will hopefully use this document to assess his or her own practice, identify areas of weakness, and put in place corrective systems,' Ng added.
The guideline is intended for use by laboratory directors, managers, supervisors, quality managers, point-of-care coordinators and other testing personnel responsible for implementing the policies, processes, procedures, activities and records that support the quality management activities.
