BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Specific coagulation assays for non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOAC) are relatively slow and often lack availability. Although specific point-of-care tests (POCT) are currently not available, NOAC are known to affect established coagulation POCT. This study aimed at determining the diagnostic accuracy of the CoaguChek POCT to rule out relevant concentration...

Point-of-care testing (POCT) refers to any diagnostic test administered outside the central laboratory at or near the location of the patient. By performing the sample collection and data analysis steps in the same location POCT cuts down on transport and processing delays, resulting in the rapid feedback of test results to medical decision-makers. Over the past decades the availability and use...

BACKGROUND Point-of-care testing (POCT) of coagulation has been proven to be of great value in accelerating emergency treatment. Specific POCT for direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) is not available, but the effects of DOAC on established POCT have been described. We aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of Hemochron® Signature coagulation POCT to qualitatively rule out relevant concentrati...

OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to improve pathology services in selected remote health centres from the Northern Territory (NT) through the implementation of a quality managed point-of-care pathology testing (POCT) service. DESIGN Study of the efficacy of the POCT service after 1 year and qualitative survey of POCT device operators. SETTING The study was set in thirty-three remote...

Infectious disease point-of-care test (ID-POCT) devices are becoming widely available, and in this respect, international quality standards and guidelines are available for consultation once ID-POCT has been implemented into medical institutions. However, specific guidelines for consultation during the initial pre-implementation decision-making process are currently lacking. Further, there exis...

Point-of-care testing (POCT) has had rapid technological development and their use is widespread in clinical laboratories to assure reduction of turn-around-time and rapid patient management in some clinical settings where it is important to make quick decisions. Until now the papers published about the POCT have focused on the reliability of the technology used and their analytical accuracy. W...

INTRODUCTION Population-wide HIV testing services (HTS) must be delivered in order to achieve universal antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage. To accurately deliver HTS at such scale, non-facility-based HIV point-of-care testing (HIV-POCT) is necessary but requires rigorous quality assurance (QA). This study assessed the performance of community-wide HTS in Zambia and South Africa (SA) as par...

Fulfilling the requirements of point-of-care testing (POCT) training regarding proper execution of measurements and compliance with internal and external quality control specifications is a great challenge. Our aim was to compare the values of the highly critical parameter hemoglobin (Hb) determined with POCT devices and central laboratory analyzer in the highly vulnerable setting of an emergen...

OBJECTIVE To explore clinicians views of the barriers and facilitators to use of C-reactive protein (CRP) point-of-care tests (POCT) in US family medicine clinics for the management of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in adults. SETTING Five family medicine clinics across two US states. PARTICIPANTS 30 clinicians including 18 physicians, 9 physician residents, 2 physician assistan...

Worldwide, one of the fastest growing aspects of clinical laboratory testing is point of care testing (POCT). Decentralized patient care and access to testing in under-served areas are key elements in the evolving expansion of POCT. Several available POCT devices can potentially contribute to safer transfusion practices in resourcelimited settings. Only "rapid diagnostic tests" and some simple ...