Quality in point of care testing

Abstract

Part of this document has been endorsed as a Position Statement on Point of Caretesting (in-hospital setting) of the Italian Society of Laboratory Medicine (Società Italiana di Medicina di Laboratorio, SIMeL) and also refers to offcial documents and International standards to for generalities (ISO 15189/2003) and specific items (ISO 22870/2006). As such, this article is ba sed on to professional standards, guidelines and peer reviews documents, and it is aimed to im prove the pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical phase of point of caretesting (POCT), by providing insights into definitions, key aspects in developing a diagnostic system for POCT, benefits and risks of POCT and leading sources of errors.