title: Is point of care testing in Irish hospitals ready for the laboratory modernisation process? An audit against the current national Irish guidelines.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Laboratory modernisation process in Ireland will include point of care testing (POCT) as one of its central tenets. However, a previous baseline survey showed that POCT was under-resourced particularly with respect to information technology (IT) and staffing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  An audit was undertaken to see if POCT services had improved since the publication of National Guidelines and if such services were ready for the major changes in laboratory medicine as envisaged by the Health Service Executive.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 15 recommendations of the 2007 Guidelines were used as a template for a questionnaire, which was distributed by the Irish External Quality Assessment Scheme.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-nine of a possible 45 acute hospitals replied. Only a quarter of respondent hospitals had POCT committees, however, allocation of staff to POCT had doubled since the first baseline survey. Poor IT infrastructure, the use of unapproved devices, and low levels of adverse incident reporting were still major issues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Point of care testing remains under-resourced, despite the roll out of such devices throughout the health service including primary care. The present high standards of laboratory medicine may not be maintained if the quality and cost-effectiveness of POCT is not controlled. Adherence to national Guidelines and adequate resourcing is essential to ensure patient safety.
authors.affiliation: Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland, rokelly@coombe.ie.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: O'Kelly
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mulligan
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Mulready
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Gorman
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Shea
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boran
mesh_terms: D064790:Clinical Laboratory Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007494:Ireland; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008485:Medical Audit; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards; D058996:Quality Improvement; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care