December 8, 2004 Meeting Minutes |
The final meeting with vendor fair for 2004 was held at the Doubletree Hotel in Alsip, Illinois on Wednesday, December 8, 2004 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. The meeting was attended by 60 registered healthcare professionals as well as representatives from the program sponsors and vendors: Abbott, Bayer Diagnostics, BD, Biosite, Dade, Fisher, Helena, Hemocue, Hemosense, J&J, Kendall, MAS, Quidel, Radiometer, RDI, Response, Roche, Telcor, and Thermo Bio Star. The meeting commenced with opening remarks by Darlene Sobucki, founder of the Tri-State POC Network. Members of the core group include: Wendy Denk, Ingalls Hospital, Harvey, IL; Gil Salas, Univ of Illinois – Chicago, Chicago, IL; Darlene Sobucki, Advocate Trinity – Chicago and Advocate South Suburban, Hazel Crest, IL. Medical Automation
System's Presents The first presenter for the day, Joan Maher with MAS, provided the background for how she helped the Tri-State evolve to the group it is today. Those who have been part of the group since it’s inception November 14, 2001, have had the opportunity to listen to Joan present topics related to connectivity on numerous occasions. Her presentation “Web Based Point of Care Data Management”, touched on an area that was still “in the future” back in 2001 when we had our first round table discussion on connectivity. After a discussion of how data flows through a RALS Plus system, Joan discussed what a POCC could get out of web based technology. Keeping data moving, increase billing, providing more accurate records, flexibility in getting data where and when you want it and improved communication with nursing are just a few advantages and benefits. Joan’s presentation concluded with a demo and testimonial of a current user, Karen Gregory, from Boston Medical Center. Vendor Fair The group broke for a two-hour vendor fair where they visited the booths represented by 17 vendors. The “freebees” are always great but so was the information obtained as well as the opportunity to see first hand what is current in the point of care testing arena. Thank you vendors! Biosite Presents “Assessing Patients for Venous Thromboembolism”Following lunch, Julie Doyle, MD, (sponsored by Biosite) presented “Assessing Patients for Venous Thromboembolism”. PE is the second most frequent cause of sudden death in outpatients and most cases of PE originate from a thrombus in the pelvis or deep vein in the leg rather than pulmonary. It is almost impossible to make a clinical diagnosis as the classic signs and symptoms are not present in many cases or they are subtle symptoms. Diagnostic tests like chest xray or ECG may be normal even though there are signs and symptoms presented. Dr. Doyle said that a Clinical Scoring System (Well’s Criteria for PE Risk Stratification)should be used before ordering any clinical tests. If the score is less than 2, there is a low probability of PE but a score of greater than 6 represents a high probability of PE that will prompt further testing such as CT angiography. The use of the D-Dimer in the laboratory diagnosis is most useful in the ED, not in the hospital setting and should be used as a “rule out” for PE indicator. There are 5 major types of assays available: Elisa/Immunoassay, latex agglutination, whole blood, turbidimetric and immunofiltration. The ELISA, ELFA and other immunoassays are the most sensitive and are very accurate but the disadvantage is the amount of time required for testing. The quicker, second generation latex agglutination methods are more sensitive than the first generation. No matter what method of D-Dimer is used, physician education is required as to how to use the data The Tri-State POC
Network servs
Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Core members of the group
include
Wendy Denk
MT(ASCP) |
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