It’s often said that to get what you want, you have to identify what you want. And what Eileen Esposito, RN, DNP, wants is more pathologists who are willing to collaborate with colleagues on point-of-care testing.

“I want someone who can sit at a table with the end users and not say, ‘You can’t have that point-of-care test,’ but ‘Let’s talk about the test you’re requesting, and let’s talk about its pros and cons,’” says Esposito, assistant executive director of ambulatory patient care services and quality, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Manhasset, NY, and a consultant to the College’s POC Testing Committee.

So when Esposito sat down to write the section of the CAP’s new online Point-of-Care Testing Tool Kit that covers what RN ambulatory care administrators want from pathologist point-of-care testing directors, she took the opportunity to get specific about the qualities of an ideal POC testing director. As she wrote, that would be someone with “excellent communication skills” who “is open to new technologies and practice realities” and “can tactfully educate peers and practitioners.”

“I listed the attributes of what I would consider the ultimate POCT director,” she says. “I described the ideal.” That’s not to say that the tool kit—which was online as of Aug. 2 at www.cap.org—is some pie-in-the-sky document. more

POCT & AfterGlow Highlights from the AACC Annual Meeting

Bob Kaplanis Awarded POCC of the Year!

Congratulations to Bob Kaplanis from Banner Health in Arizona, second from left above, (with L-R Bill Noble and Brian Gunderson from MAS and Kim Gregory from Mass. General Hospital) who received the CPOCT Division’s Point of Care Coordinator of the Year award at this year’s Annual Meeting.

Above, from L-R, POCCs Audrey Gillete, Kim Skala, Pat Kraft and Monica Thomas enjoyed the festivities at the CPOCT Mixer. To see more photos, click here.

Following the Mixer, Rebecca Paw, POC Specialist from Adventist Health in Southern Cal, right, welcomed 200+ people to AfterGlow 2010.

For more photos from AfterGlow, click here,

8th Annual POCC Forum Presentations Now Available

"Records and Regulations in the Age of the EMR" drew a large audience during the Annual Meeting and the presentations are now available for viewing. Click on the title of image below for a pdf of the slides.

POCT and the CLIA SURVEY

Gary Yamamoto

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services San Francisco Regional Office

Preparing for a New Era in Health Care

Integrated Electronic Health Records System, Ginger A. Baker, MS, MT (AAB)

Accounting Practices

Build a skillful financial justification for your point of care testing program additions and changes.

August 16, 2010 | By Ginger A. Baker, MS, MT(AAB)

ADVANCE for Medical Laboratory Professionals

It has been a difficult time for most. Payer mixes have changed and financial reserves are dwindling. There has never been a more critical need to understand the accounting methods of determining a test's worth and cost. Savvy point of care coordinators(POCCs) or lab managers know point of care tests (POCT) are not as financially friendly as their lab performed counterparts. More

Connectivity Pitfalls at the Point of Care
By Kim Gregory, MT(ASCP), NCA, ClS, Associate Director, POCT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, POC CONNECTIVITY CONCEPTS, Advance for Administrators of the Laboratory

In the infancy of point-of-care testing (POCT) the newly deemed POCT coordinator was challenged with the task of creating compliance from chaos using a mountain of paper", and if they were lucky, a laptop containing a data management system for glucose meters fondly referred to as "SneakerNet". Read more >

Blood Glucose Meters:

Is FDA Ready to Tighten Up Accuracy Standards?
By Bill Malone, Clinical Laboratory News, May 2010

After a well attended March meeting on blood glucose meters, FDA now has support from stakeholders to work toward a two-track regulatory approach that would distinguish the needs of individuals monitoring diabetes at home versus healthcare professionals maintaining tight glycemic control (TGC) protocols in clinical settings. More >