QAAMS Workshop, Adelaide SA;
September 2002

Given there are so many DCA 2000/Vantage devices being used for POCT across Australia, it is important that there is a surveillance mechanism in place to ensure the analytical quality of POCT results on clients with diabetes remains equivalent to that expected of a laboratory test and acceptable for client care. It is also important that the quality of results generated on a DCA 2000/Vantage in Broome for example is equivalent to those generated on a DCA 2000/Vantage in south east Victoria.

Modelled on standard laboratory practices, the QAAMS Program provides a unique quality management framework for POCT on the DCA 2000/Vantage which requires participating services to conduct two monthly quality checks on their POCT devices; namely internal quality control testing and external quality assurance testing (the latter provided collaboratively by the RCPA Quality Assurance Programs Pty Ltd, the main provider of quality assurance programs for all laboratories in Australia and New Zealand).  As mentioned previously, this quality management framework sets the QAAMS Program apart from any other model of primary health care delivery for Indigenous communities world-wide.

Internal quality control testing enables POCT operators to obtain an immediate assessment of their DCA 2000/Vantage's performance, while external quality assurance testing provides the capacity for services to compare the performance of their DCA 2000/Vantage with every other DCA 2000/Vantage in the program.