Quality control explained: QC for point-of-care testing

Point of care testing (POCT) refers to testing performed near or at the site of a patient, with the result leading to a possible change in the care of the patient. Over the past few years, the popularity and demand of POCT has been growing rapidly. This should come as no surprise as there are many advantages to POCT, such as the added convenience of being able to obtain a rapid result at the patient’s bedside, thus allowing immediate action, saving time and improving the potential outcome for the patient. 

Although there are many benefits to the use of POCT devices in terms of their convenience, these benefits are only true if the results produced are both accurate and reliable. Ensuring accuracy and reliability is the primary responsibility of quality control.

Quality control comprises two key elements, internal quality control (IQC) and external quality assessment (EQA). Internal QC involves running quality control material that contains analytes of known concentration to monitor the precision of the analytical process over time. Whereas EQA involves running blind patient-like samples, comparing your results to peer results, in order to monitor retrospectively the accuracy of reporting. The EQA samples should be treated as if they were a patient sample and therefore must be run by personnel who would be using the device. This provides confidence in the reliability of patient test results.