The main role of emergency medicine is to diagnose and treat acute medical conditions. Paramount is the rapid identification of critical illness. The key diagnostic tools at our disposal are history, examination, imaging and blood tests. Imaging is now integrated into most Emergency Departments (EDs), and emergency physicians are using point-of-care ultrasound more frequently with radiographs/computed tomography available within most EDs.
Previously, blood tests were sent to the lab, leading to long waits and repeated status checks for clinicians waiting for results to arrive. Point-of-care testing now offers an accurate and immediately available resource that will allow clinicians to identify critical illness and diagnose a range of conditions within minutes of their patients' arrival in the ED. This facilitates a higher quality of care while reducing the time to admission or discharge.
Point-of-care testing has been available for several years but has previously been centered around blood gas analysis to assist with ventilatory settings and has had a reputation for limited accuracy with many blood tests repeated in the lab. Today, point-of-care testing offers accurate, rapid assays which, in many cases, precludes the need for lab samples. This speed and accuracy also facilitate rapid patient assessment and a potential reduction in overcrowding.
This webinar will address the accuracy of point-of-care testing, and assess how it may facilitate early recognition/diagnosis of critical illness and improve patient flow in the ED.
This Webinar Will:
- Discuss the accuracy of POC testing
- Analyze the impact of POC testing on ED patient flow (overcrowding)
- Explain the effects of POC testing on rapid identification of critical illness (including sepsis, lactates, VBG vs. ABG)
- Describe the ways in which POC testing enables safer imaging (Cr, HCG)
- Illustrate methods that ED's can use to make POC testing safe and effective
Presenter
Tim Harris, MD, Prof., Emergency Medicine, QMUL and Barts Health, London, England
Who Should Attend?
- Emergency department physicians and nurses
- Laboratorians
- Point of care coordinators
Continuing Education
US Participants:
- One PACE® credit will be provided for each session
- Each session is approved for 1 Florida CE credit
Florida Board of Clinical Laboratory Personnel approved number:
50-12563
International Participants:
- A Certificate of Attendance will be available for all sessions for international participants to submit to their appropriate accrediting agencies