POC hours

Hi Ken...at our facility, there is a POC Coordinator and I am the MLS who works in POC full time. We both work a regular 40 hour work week. We recently implemented the new Nova meters for all of our associated facilities and was able to work as many hours as needed but that is all the time even when there is no major project but a lot of work. There a 2 other hospitals that we oversee, many departments within each facility and a Family Medicine Center that we oversee in Point of Care. There are also 2 Free Standing ER's, more to be built and a new hospital scheduled to open next year that we will oversee Point of Care in as well. Yes...this job requires some assistance, full time, not just "help" because you will burn out. We are looking into asking for another person once that new hospital comes aboard. We have a saying on our board when you walk into our office that says: Welcome to world of Point of Care where no one knows what we do until we don't do it!!! Sounds familiar?:-) Please speak out to your superiors and let them know what you need. Take Care and Happy New Year!

Ken, I feel your pain, and I'm sure a lot of POC Coordinators do as well. We had no formal POC position until 3 years ago. POC duties were handed out to various MTs with no one really having oversight of the program as a whole. The lab manager created the position and I jumped at it because I was currently Chemistry Team Facilitator, working the bench in 3 departments, working weekends and managing a growing segment of the POC duties. My position now is 32 hours/week, but I still work at least 1/2 of that time on the bench. So it is not ideal, but I too can work extra hours as needed. I manage ~1000 AccuChek operators (soon to be switching to Nova Stat Strip), ~45 EPOC users, CVL employees using the Hemochrons and Avoximeter, Cardiac Surgery using the Medtronic, BinaxNOW training, CoaguChek XS, and Fern Testing :(  I agree with Brenda - make a case for yourself and get either more time for your POC duties or some help! Good luck - this forum is a great place to find like-minded sympathizers!

At our facility we have 4 full time employees dedicated solely to the Point of Care Testing Department:
POCT Supervisor, Reagent and Equipment Specialist, Training and Competency Specialist and Training and Competency Coordinator.  We share a manager with several Suburban Labs. 
Our Training and Competency employees also cover all other areas of the department when they are not doing sessions.

We oversee the point of care departments for two hospitals (which are 30 miles apart), and are involved to some degree in 6 free standing test areas and 13 Urgent Cares.   

We manage all of our supplies in that we do all ordering, we receive all supplies directly, we store them and do all reagent checks and all labeling and distribute as ordered by test areas.  We also order all waived testing supplies for the Urgent Cares and ship to them as needed.  

We oversee about 6000 competencies a year. We have 24 Radiometers, almost 40 Hemochrons, ~250 glucose meters, 5 StatSensors, Avox, 3 Hemosonics Quantras,, Amnisure ROM and a handfull of non-analyzer waived tests.
Hope this helps.

Ken,
 
 It’s a safe bet you need help, depending on the size of your facility and how much of the system is automated, how training and recertification is are handled will greatly dictate how much help you need.  POC in my experience tends to be the unwanted step child of the lab and doesn’t get the staff truly needed...

 I manage a system with >5000 users, that use glucometers, 5 mod-complex analyzers and 3 kit tests in 4 hospitals, 4 ER's and 1 clinic.  I do this with myself and 2.5 FTE at the main campus that report to me and a “POC coordinator” that fills in when they have time off the bench at each facility.  However a significant amount of the required work is automated within the system.  Training is largely done by the floors (which I argue against). 

I know of another nearby facility that has 8 FTE at a their main campus alone (similar in size to us) but they do all their own training/recertification and not the floors.

I totally agree with Jeremy regarding the training and competency aspect.  We had only 2 employees for years and we struggled with training and competency assessment.  We finally got someone's ear about 3 years ago and were able to work in 2 more employees to help with that.

Ken,

I am a POC Coordinator at a 430 bed hospital. I also am the LIS supervisor. I believe the POC part is for sure a full time position by itself, so it can be daunting when there are large LIS projects. 

I just converted to Nova glucometers in July for 1000 operators. We also use Siemens EPOC for BGs, electrolytes and metabolites (70 users). We use Hemochron Response but will be going live with the Signature Elite first quarter of 2022. Nova Creatinine Meters will also go live in the first quarter of 2022 for our imaging department. We just purchased a FSED and will be managing the lab portion there as all of the labs will be POC testing. Currently, I do not have all of my devices interfaced but as we transition to the Signature Elite and add the Nova Creatinine, all of my devices will officially be on RALS. This will be a huge help as it will help better keep track of training and certification/recertification. Then, we will move to Telcor in 2022 as well. 

I do not have any assistance in the lab, however, I have worked to implement glucometers superusers on each floor to help monitor, troubleshoot, and be an overall helper with the glucometers. If there is something they cannot do, they bring it to me. Their help consists of, making sure there are supplies, meters/barcode scanning areas are clean, controls and strips are dated, etc. for the moderately complex testing, I have superusers who also help in a similar way as well as keep up with CAP Surveys (performing and/or scheduling), QC, temperature charts, and maintenance charts.  The superusers also redirect new staff to me for training.

I keep up with all of the training, competencies, diplomas, PSVs, QC, Maintenance, Troubleshooting, thermometers, cal/ver, patient correlations, new device implementations, CAP surveys, etc. It is a big job. My best advice is to implement systems to keep yourself organized. It has taken me 3 years but I am finally at a place where I can almost keep up with myself. I'm happy to share processes or offer any help if you have any questions. 

We have 1.5 FTE in our department.  The biggest job is coordinating our 400 i-STAT users, but we also have Nova StatStrip, HMS Plus, and Avoximeters.  As a coordinator, I'm a 0.9 FTE and do a lot of the administrative/quality stuff.  The additional 0.5 FTE is mostly supported because we help in the OR for PTH cases as well and the timing is unpredictable, but she is a huge help with training and competency assessments!