Quality assurance practices for point of care testing programs: Recommendations by the Canadian society of clinical chemists point of care testing interest group

• Published in: Clinical biochemistry 2021-02, Vol.88, p.11-17
• Main Authors: Venner, Allison A., Beach, Lori A., Shea, Jennifer L., Knauer, Michael J., Huang, Yun, Fung, Angela W.S., Dalton, James, Provencal, Mathieu, Shaw, Julie L.V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Device verification; POCT; Point of care testing; Quality assurance
• ISSN: 0009-9120; 1873-2933
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2020.11.008

•Laboratory oversight is key to ensuring quality of point of care testing (POCT) programs.•This document provides practical guidelines for aspects of POCT quality assurance (QA)•The recommendations presented in this document were arrived at by consensus of the authors and should be used as guidelines.•Minimal an optimal criteria have been provided for described POCT QA, as applicable. Point of Care Testing (POCT) refers to clinical laboratory testing performed outside the central laboratory, nearer to the patient and sometimes at the patient bedside. The testing is usually performed by clinical staff, such as physicians or nurses, who are not laboratory trained. This document was developed by the POCT Interest group of the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists (CSCC) as practical guidance for quality assurance practices related to POCT performed in hospital and outside hospital environments. The aspects of quality assurance addressed in this document include: (1) device selection, (2) initial device verification, (3) ongoing device verification, (4) ongoing quality assurance including reagent and quality control (QC) lot changes, and (5) quality management including operator and document management.