An interactive two-step training and management model of point-of-care glucose testing in northern Finland

Abstract

Objectives. To assess an interactive 2-step training and management model for nurses in glucose pointof-care testing (POCT). Study design. The training of the nursing staff by the point-of-care coordinator of the laboratory started with interactive sessions with contact persons who subsequently trained their nursing colleagues at the Oulu University Hospital in northern Finland. The 2-step training model was applied in blood glucose testing as a pilot study. Methods. Functional quality was assessed through interviews with clinical contact persons and a questionnaire was given to the trained nurses. Technical quality was assessed through control measurements by laboratory and nursing staff. Results. Training succeeded because of basic resources (trainers' knowledge and skills, organized contents of training and place), interpersonal communication and high-quality interactions. Nurses were especially satisfied with the prerequisite training of the contact persons (mean score 1.58, Likert scale from -2 to +2, strongly disagree -strongly agree). Day-to-day repeatabilities of less than 3% were achieved in control measurements by both nursing and laboratory staff. Conclusions. The interactive 2-step training and management model could be implemented in the clinical units using a reasonable amount of laboratory resources. The goal of good functional and technical quality in point-of-care testing in the clinical units was achieved. Despite successful implementation, POCT needs continuous support from the laboratory.

Training of nurses in point‐of‐care testing: a systematic review of the literature

“…) or familiarisation with the training strategy (Lehto et al . ). Training in the use of the device and reagents was reported in only three studies, use of a quality control sample in all studies, sample collection in five studies, evaluation of patient results in four studies, recording patient and control sample results in three studies and maintenance and waste disposal in four studies.…”

“…Nurses had an opportunity to influence the goals and content of their training (Lehto et al . ). Communication via telephone between laboratory staff and nurses was used in two of the studies (Sanchez‐Margalet et al .…”

“…, Lehto et al . ), one community hospital (Hansen ), one general practice (Shephard et al . ), one primary care clinic (Knapp et al .…”

“…, Lehto et al . ), one involving HIV rapid test (Knapp et al . ), one involving urine dipstick test (Hansen ) and one involving many tests (haemoglobin A1c, urine albumin/creatinine ratio, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol and international normalised ratio; Shephard et al .…”

“…, Lehto et al . ), multiple training methods were used. The approaches included self‐learning and e‐learning (Belsey et al .…”