By Wendy Denk, MT(ASCP)

In November 2001, the Tri-State Point-of-Care Network held its inaugural meeting whereby a group of point-of-care (POC) coordinators gathered to discuss a "wish list" for managing their POC programs, the possible obstacles that might be encountered and what they considered the future of connectivity for POCT.

The "wish list" included:

• ease of billing;
• bidirectional information transfer; and 
• an effective way for managing competencies.

The obstacle list only consisted of problems with interfacing devices with different vendors. As for the future, the group unanimously concluded wireless technology would be the ultimate goal.

Though not a comprehensive list, what was identified in 2001 has been the basis for numerous articles and presentations in the years since. As the goal of POCT is to deliver the result accurately, quickly and onto the electronic patient medical record, connectivity between a POCT device and an information system is essential.

Read the full article as originally published in ADVANCE for Administrators of the Laboratory, 15 January 2008. [ return to top ]