Point of care testing standard

PoCT3 – Qualifications, education and training of PoCT practitioners

Standards for general practices (6th edition)

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Standards for general practices

PoCT3 | Qualifications, education and training of PoCT practitioners

Consumer expectation statement: I expect that practitioners at this practice understand their role and have up-to-date training to perform point of care testing.

PoCT3.A Members of the practice team who perform PoCT:

have successfully undertaken training
participate in training and education updates.

The practice:

provides evidence that PoCT practitioners can demonstrate competency in PoCT
provides evidence that PoCT practitioners receive regular training and education updates
provides evidence that all PoCT practitioners receive training updates when:
- significant changes to method(s) are introduced
- new tests and/or instruments are introduced
- CQI mechanisms identify issues.

Why this is important

Having PoCT practitioners who are trained reduces the risk of errors and safeguards the validity of results that inform clinical decision-making, ensuring that the practice provides patients with safe, high-quality care.

The organisation responsible for providing the PoCT service needs to provide evidence that all PoCT practitioners:

are suitably trained
maintain the knowledge and skills that enable them to perform PoCT
work within their scope of practice and competencies.

The quality of PoCT can be compromised by pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical errors and issues, especially if performed by inadequately trained PoCT practitioners. This is why members of the practice team performing and managing PoCT require appropriate training and education, and need to be able to demonstrate competency when assessed⁽⁴⁸⁾.

Meeting these criteria

The practice needs to maintain records that clearly show that the training of PoCT practitioners is appropriate for the PoCT they perform.

All PoCT practitioners need to receive updated training when:

significant changes to the PoCT method/s are introduced
a new test and/or instrument is introduced
CQI mechanisms identify any issues.

Table 8 provides suggested training for different areas related to PoCT.

Table 8 Training in Point of care testing in general practice

Area	Suggested training
General	The practice’s policies Overview of clinical purposes of PoCT
PoCT system	Basic principles of analysis, calibration, bias, precision, range, sensitivity, specificity, interferences, method evaluation and method comparison Normal test performance according to the manufacturer’s instructions Recognition of malfunctions and appropriate actions Error messages and actions Storage of consumables Care, maintenance and decontamination of the PoCT system
Patients and specimens	Appropriate information for patients – including what the test is, why it is being done and the cost to the patient Patient preparation Specimen collection techniques Specimen identification and labelling Specimen handling and stability Recognition of unsuitable specimens Patient and staff safety
Results	Recognition of abnormal, clinically urgent and erroneous results Documentation of the testing episode Data management
Quality	Principles and procedures of PoCT quality control testing and external quality assurance programs Assessment of acceptable and unacceptable quality control testing and external quality assurance results, and appropriate actions

The practice could:

record each employee’s qualifications in employment files
keep a training calendar that lists PoCT professional development and training opportunities
maintain documents that record each PoCT practitioner’s training needs and training completed
conduct annual performance reviews that identify learning and development goals.

Assessment of PoCT practitioners

Members of the practice team need to be assessed for competency in all aspects of their PoCT duties and responsibilities.

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