The design and management of a GP based INR testing and dosing scheme.
"The Cornwall Experience"
		Tim Watson, managing director of Elitech UK said “The HEMOCHRON® analyser is strictly for professional use only, it is not a patient self testing analyser, and therefore we like to ensure that all end users are correctly trained and, more importantly, have total confidence in the use of their analyser”. The scheme closely follows the British Committee for Standards in Haematology’s guidelines on point of care testing1, so an initial enabling visit is first made to the surgery to discuss INR POCT (Point of Care Testing) and to encourage better communication between all parties. Then, once an analyser such as the HEMOCHRON® has been commissioned and the end-users trained, the surgery sends in an initial 40 sample results for validating by the laboratory against one of their reference analysers monitored by regular NEQAS control. Only when validation has been successfully completed can the clinics commence. For ongoing use, HEMOCHRON® liquid quality control samples are run at the start of each clinic and the surgeries send one patient sample from each session back to the laboratory for comparison. This practice is made possible by the HEMOCHRON’s ability to handle either fresh or citrated and both venous and capillary sampling. The surgeries also refer all INR’s obtained in clinics that are over 5 to the laboratory. Because of citrated sample collection, any results giving concern can be rechecked by the laboratory at any time. Using the duplicate sample sent to the laboratory, continuous monitoring of consistency and assessment of performance is also possible. Previous  Continue