Influence of geography on the performance of quality control testing in the Australian Government's point of care testing in general practice trial.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the influence of geography on quality control (QC) testing in the point of care testing (PoCT) in general practice trial.


METHODS
Within-practice imprecision for QC testing for HbA1c, urine albumin:creatinine ratio, lipids and international normalised ratio was calculated for each geographic region.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference between the region of testing and within-practice imprecision, except for triglyceride and HDL cholesterol.


CONCLUSIONS
PoCT was conducted to an equivalent analytical standard across geographic regions.
Shephard
Mark D S
MD
Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia. Mark.Shephard@flinders.edu.au
D000418:Albumins / Q000378:metabolism; D001315:Australia; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D005194:Family Practice / Q000379:methods*; D005843:Geography; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D006078:Government Programs / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000592:standards; D011786:Quality Control; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D000418:Albumins; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D003404:Creatinine; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D014280:Triglycerides