Initial Glucose Training

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I am looking for information on how other point of care coordinators handle glucose meter training by nursing staff or educators. Right now, we provide all the initial training for waived and moderately complex testing, all assignments are maintained in HealthStream. Currently we grant access through Telcor prior to our hands on class. How is glucose training performed at your facilities? Do you grant glucose meter access before or after training is complete? Who lets you know that training is complete?

10 Replies

Ashlee Holland

Tue Oct 24, 2023 at 11:49AM

We have nurse educators do all of the education for waived glucose testing initially. We use RALS and have the Nova StatStrip glucose meters. The nurse educators send me a request with the employee name, dept and ID number so I can enter them in RALS. I give them a 2 week period to run 1 high and 1 low QC successfully on the glucometer. When this is met they auto re-certify in RALS for 1 year. if this QC requirement is not met their access is locked and they would need to have a nurse educator contact me to renew access (typically only for 1 week at that time) and then once completed access renews for 1 year. We have HealthStream as our learning management system as well and initially require a checklist to be completed by an approved nurse educator stating that they have observed the employee as a part of the HS course, this is due within 30 days of hire. Employees are required to run at a minimum 1 high and 1 low QC annually after their initial training. The employees are then assigned annual education in HS which includes a written test and then their QC performance is monitored as the other element of competency (We are TJC accredited for this testing). Hope this helps!

Cindy Engbert

Tue Oct 24, 2023 at 11:51AM

I assign training through our LMS and receive an email once completed. I then grant them access to the meter for 7 days to get both levels of QC completed which upon completion certifies them for 365 days. I also participate in the Nursing Divisional Orientation where I do a hands on training with staff. During that training they complete both levels of QC as well as simulated patient specimens. These staff also complete the online training.

Ehsan Ghanizadeh

Tue Oct 24, 2023 at 11:54AM

Hello Jaimie. I provide initial training and as of this year I complete the requirements for initial competency assessment right after the training is completed. I use Dossier competency assessment management system to track user competencies and ensure completion by the certification date so that the RNs don't lose their access to the glucometers. All documentation is done manually and tracked using Dossier.

Brandy Kenny

Tue Oct 24, 2023 at 11:57AM

I conduct all training for both waived and non-waived methods during nursing orientation. For the glucose training, I grant access through Telcor just before training (usually the day before) and will cut the access if they do not attend or do not complete the requirements.

Jeremy MacDonald

Tue Oct 24, 2023 at 12:24PM

Jamie,
How training is done is largely going to be dictated by how many people need to be trained/certified and how many people are available to do this. IMO, best practice is going to be having the lab/POC staff complete this training with the users. This is possible in smaller facilities or ones that employ enough POC staff to accommodate this. If the facility does not have enough POC staff for this then other solutions must be found.

In my system:

Waived tests: dept managers identify staff within their dept that would be good trainers.  The user completes the eLearning for it and then reviews with these SuperUsers which then communicate with the lab of a successful review and passing QC.  This passing QC can be found in QML, POC middleware. (Users re-certifying get automatically updated once completing the steps).


Non-waived testing systems: User completed the eLearning, are granted temporary access to complete the skill-check with passing QC review with an Approved SuperUsers (4 year science degree + 2 years’ experience) that have been trained by the POC manager in this role.  These SuperUsers communicate with the lab to manually update them in QML after training/review is complete.

Laura Galindo

Tue Oct 24, 2023 at 12:27PM

Nursing Education does the initial training, along with the 6th month, and annual renewal. There is a checklist that they go over. The new hire must scan into the glucometer, and perform QC testing, both levels. The meter is set for "training" and the location is EDUCATION. Once the class is over, the educator scans to me the checklist of the new hires. The QC is waiting under, Exceptions, Configuration in Telcor. From there I add the new operator. I print out the QC and add to the checklist, and file for inspection. There is also a module in Cornerstone, our education module for the hospital, and a quiz that they must do initially, and for competency 6 months and annually.

Amanda Casavant

Wed Oct 25, 2023 at 9:12AM

RALS & Nova StatStrip Organization
All new glucometer users are entered into RALS by the Nursing Applications Specialist with a one- year expiration date just before Orientation. They are trained by Education Department, perform QC and an exam. RALS automatically updates glucometer users annually once they complete the exam in RALS and both levels of QC. I do initial training for all the other waived and moderately complex POC testing. All other POC testing competency is completed during multiple day skills fairs.

Kayla Cooper

Wed Oct 25, 2023 at 12:47PM

Our Point of Care team conducts all initial training and any recertifications for non-waived devices. Training is part of orientation for new associates. We provide a quiz at the end of the hands-on training class. We use the quiz documentation to know who to grant access to in QML AFTER they have completed the initial training course. For the class, we have a set of meters that are for training only. We have a universal operator barcode and a mock patient barcode that we provide on the quiz paper. We are in the process of identifying "superusers" in each unit for the glucometer to assist in monitoring their team for access problems and annual auto-recertification requirements.

Diane Cauteruccio

Wed Oct 25, 2023 at 4:46PM

Hello Jamie,
We are a CAP lab, utilize HealthStream, UniPOC and Epic. I have a set of glucometers designated for "Training Only" which do not have Operator Lockout, allowing new and expired users to perform their Hi/Lo controls and a test patient using a specific training encounter number. Our nursing educator team trains new staff in the RN/NA orientations. I also have designated nurse coordinators in many areas who aid in recerts. I'm the only POC, but work with a great team!

Gloria MacLean

Thu Oct 26, 2023 at 2:43PM

We add new operators for the day of training, with an expiration for the day after (in the event that they don't show). When class is over, we update them to expire in a year. We POCCs do all of the training for waived and non-waived testing, however there are nurse educators who will sometimes provide the training for a one-off new hire under certain circumstances. Training consists of a lecture with PowerPoint and then a quiz and hands-on.

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Initial Glucose Training