Clinical Application of Point-of-Care Testing in the Remote Primary Health Care Setting
نویسندگان
چکیده
Methods: An audit examined three acute medical presentations (patients with acute chest pain, patients with acute exacerbation of renal failure due to a missed dialysis session(s) and patients with acute diarrhoea) at six remote health centres in the Northern Territory where POCT was routinely available. The main clinical outcome was the percentage (%) of patients with each acute presentation who did or did not require evacuation (as a result of POCT measurement). Results: 200 patient cases met the selection criteria for the presentation types. Of 147 patients with chest pain, 126 patients were not evacuated due to on-site POCT for troponin I; from this latter group, 48 patients (38%) would have been evacuated if POCT was not available. Three of seven patients (43%) identified with non-STEMI through POCT would not have been evacuated if POCT was unavailable. Of 17 patients evacuated with acute renal disease, four (24%) had initial potassium results >6.5 mmol/L; all four received calcium gluconate/resonium medication and serial POCT with decreased potassium levels at evacuation. All 10 patients evacuated with acute diarrhoea received rehydration therapy prior to evacuation.
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