Our services
The Community Point-of-Care Services unit specialises in providing the following services:
Education, training and competency assessment for a range of community-based health professionals in the use of point-of-care devicesOur education and training activities focus mainly on health professionals from non-laboratory backgrounds and include nurses, Indigenous health workers and general practitioners.
Quality management of point-of-care devices in community medicine
This specialist service continually monitors the analytical quality of POCT results generated on POCT devices used in our programs and assesses the observed quality against national and international benchmarks (analytical goals). Through these quality management procedures, we can ensure that POCT results are of equivalent quality to those of the laboratory and appropriate for patient care. We provide this quality management service through a unique collaborative partnership with the RCPA (Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia’s) Quality Assurance Programs Pty Ltd).
Development, implementation and evaluation of community-based research programs for chronic disease prevention and management using POCT
We assist community health services, particularly those in rural and remote locations, to establish and manage sustainable POCT services for chronic disease, notably diabetes, renal disease and cardiovascular disease.
An important research component of our community work is to undertake qualitative and quantitative POCT outcomes assessments, particularly in relation to the clinical and cultural effectiveness of POCT. We work closely with our communities to collect and analyse this research data.
On-going support services for communities participating in our POCT programs
Our CPS unit also provides on-going support services for participating services which include:
