Deployment of a Point-Of-Care Testing Network for Elderly People at Long-Term Care Facilities

摘要

The value of long-term care facilities is the large range of care levels offered, from intensive 24-hour care to long-term personal assistance and health monitoring with low time-consuming activity for nurses, frequently supporting and replacing a much more expensive hospital activity. Consequently, the clinical laboratory needs to diversify its services in order to support the growth of non-hospital based services committed to particular patient populations. On the other hand, with the major support of information technology, the clinical laboratory must retain the supervision of diagnostic activity performed outside its walls. The laboratory acts to guarantee the analytical quality, prevent errors, improve staff compliance: its goals are patient safety and outcome improvement.