HSE National Guideline
Guidelines for Safe & Effective Management and Use of Point of Care Testing in Primary and Community Care
Topic:
Point of care testing
Document Owner:
National community operations
National Group:
National primary care
Effective From: 01 January 2009
Point of care testing is the performance of a test in the immediate vicinity to a patient to provide rapid results outside the conventional laboratory environment.
The aim of this document is to provide guidelines to Primary and Community Care settings for the implementation and management of a POCT service with a specific focus on the safe use of POC tests. It is intended to provide recommendations for best practice for POCT in Primary and Community Care environments to ensure accurate and reliable patient results.