Minimizing errors with point-of-care glucose testing
Katie Guy
Harper College Minimizing errors with point-of-care glucose testing
Evidence based practice is an integrated approach of research and clinical trial and error for the promotion of health. Instead of basing practice on what previous health care providers have used, this method is based on scientific evidence. In the health care field, this is being used more often with the accelerating discovery of new technology for treatments and individualizing the plan of care for each patient.
For the treatment of diabetes, it is vital to monitor glucose for effective administration of insulin to avoid such conditions as hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. In the hospital setting, a common practice is point-of-care glucose testing, also known as POCGT. “It provides rapidly available results that facilitate clinical decision-making, especially for insulin administration. Compared with standard laboratory testing, POCGT has several liabilities, such as increased cost per test, decreased accuracy, technique sensitivity, storage condition sensitivity, and interfering substances” (Eastham, Mason, Barnes & Kollins, 2009). Research has allowed for these errors to become minimized in the clinical setting.
Decreased accuracy and interfering substances with POCGT can become life threatening. “The impact of Hct on the POCGMD [point-of-care glucose monitoring device] accuracy in critically ill patients has received attention. Some studies documented the influence of Hct variation, especially when acute anemia develops in certain patient populations (e.g., cardiac surgery), while others report accuracy over a wide range of Hcts” (Rebel, Rice, & Fahy, 2012). When determining glucose readings, clinicians do not normally monitor hematocrit readings. “One manufacturer has recently released a meter that measures hematocrit