[Quality assurance of point of care testing]

Quality assurance of point of care testing (POCT) is thought to be difficult since it is mainly performed by doctors or nurses away from the laboratory. According to POCT guideline second edition, published by The Japan Society for Clinical Laboratory Automation, all the stages of POCT, i.e. from "before sample collection" to "after result reporting", need to be managed. In these stages, problems in the management of reagents, the quality control of measurements, and preservation of test results in medical records in POCT were discussed. Although there are problems, progress in equipment and reagents to assure POCT has been accomplished. Considering the POC coordinator's role, many activities are associated with quality assurance and are indispensable; however, as all laboratory staff can coordinate POCT, information about what is needed at the point of care and should be collected put into action. Our laboratory's participation in blood glucose measurements on the ward and in outpatients is described as an example.