The Truth Behind Point-of-Care Testing

An unforeseen benefit of COVID-19 was that it created a greater awareness about the utility and clinical application for point-of-care testing (POCT). With greater dependence placed on rapid diagnostics during a time of limited medical resources, POCT proved to be instrumental in helping clinicians make quick informed medical decisions. However, are the limitations of POCT fully understood?

In a recent article from the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, it explains that once the limitations of POCT are understood, this could help optimally improve patient management. To quickly define point-of-care testing, this would essentially be a laboratory test that is performed outside of the laboratory. Some key words that are usually associated with these tests would be "on-site", "rapid", or "instant" devices. Point-of-care testing covers a wide range of different applications that are used in different clinical settings.

The 3 main clinical pathways for point-of-care testing is diagnostic hematology, clinical chemistry, and clinical microbiology. The article goes on to say that "point-of-care testing is likely to play an increasing role in health care delivery in the future", and that it will "improve access to health care and increase the efficacy of service provided to patients". 

Despite the advantages of POCT, it's important to understand the limitations of imprecision, inaccuracy and human error. Although the pandemic helped expediate the use of POCT in many areas, the limitations must be fully understood to properly interpret POCT results. When selecting a supplier for your POCT program, it's important to consider the product support, knowledge, and quality they provide along with transparency about the development. To access the complete article, follow the link below.

Current Status of Clinical Application of Point-of-Care Testing

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