Ensuring patient safety during point-of-care diagnostic testing

When patients put their trust in us, as healthcare professionals, it is our responsibility to ensure their safety while they are in our care. This applies to all aspects of healthcare, from initial presentation, through diagnosis and treatment, to discharge and aftercare. Patient safety is of paramount importance and yet the number of patient safety incidents reported in the NHS continues to rise year on year (over 1.35 million patient safety incidents were reported between April 2011 and March 2012, at least 4% of which were associated with clinical assessment, including diagnostic testing).1 This rise could be partly due to increased reporting; certainly the proportion of organisations submitting reports increased until 2010, but since such incidents can have an adverse effect on patient health, we have a duty to learn from them in order to reduce risk in the future.

This is not just a UK problem. Throughout the developed world, medical errors are estimated to occur in 5–15% of hospital admissions.2 It is recognised that errors can contribute to increased length of hospital stay, permanent injury and even death. It is vital, therefore, that we examine our processes and procedures in order to identify and minimise potential opportunities for error. As advances in technology enable an increasing number of analytical procedures to be performed outside the confines and control of the laboratory, this applies to point-of-care testing (POCT) more than ever before.

Challenges of point-of-care testing
Potential for error in diagnostic testing can occur at any point, from sample collection, through analysis and communication of results, to subsequent patient management decisions based on the results. These steps are the same for laboratory and point of care testing, but the processes for each are very different.