The Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has installed an Accu-Chek Inform II wireless-enabled blood glucose meter from Roche in wards, clinics and theatres across its three acute hospital sites.
The meters at Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury hospital sites are linked wirelessly to the hospital information system (HIS) via Cobas IT 1000 - the Roche point-of-care (POC) data management solution - allowing them to be managed centrally in accordance with national guidelines for POC devices.
Tracey Eastwood, senior BMS responsible for POC testing within the trust, said: 'Wireless connectivity allows the glucose meters to be "seen" at all times.
'This means that there is a regular and fast transmission of data, even when the meters are not sitting in their docking stations, and each meter can be accessed by authorised individuals at any time and from any PC within the trust.
'They only need to be returned to their docking stations to be recharged,' Eastwood added.
In addition to transmitting patient results, Accu-Chek Inform II also records quality control (QC) results, operator and patient details, consumable details, configuration information and comments.
The data transmitted by the meters is managed by Cobas 1000, which permits patient validation, operator recognition and material lot tracking.
These capabilities are valuable in helping hospitals to meet Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA) requirements for POC testing.
Eastwood said: 'Our blood glucose testing system helps us to fulfil CPA requirements in a number of ways.
'It provides a central record of all data, including QC records, which in turn provide an important audit trail.
'The system also enables us to manage reagents, calibrations and quality control centrally.
'Centralised calibration of glucose meters has removed the risk of operator errors and the QC lockout feature ensures that operators perform the necessary QC activities at the required intervals, otherwise the meter cannot be used.
'Operator training is also improved using Cobas Academy, the e-learning tool available through Cobas IT 1000.
'This allows us to keep a central record of competency and only trained and authorised operators can access meters using a unique password.
'Trained operators receive a certificate and are informed by the system when recertification is due.
'This saves time and helps us demonstrate compliance with CPA guidelines,' Eastwood added.
