INTRODUCTION: There have been many reports describing individual POCT technologies but there are no recent studies describing the organizational scope and impact of a POCT program. METHODS: Our menu of POCT tests has increased to 26 and the test volume to 664,287 tests/year equivalent to 14.5% of the volume of the central core laboratory. POCT is performed in nearly all inpatient units and in a variety of outpatient settings. RESULTS: Cumulatively 84.6% of the test volume and most testing sites can be accounted for by 4 traditional tests (bedside glucose testing, fecal occult blood, dipstick urinalysis and activated clotting time). Most POCT tests are not performed because of a true medical necessity but rather to improve the efficiency of clinical operations. CONCLUSION: We are experiencing a significant increase in requests for new POCT tests. Unlike established high volume conventional POC tests, these new requests originate from specialized services seeking to improve the efficiency of clinical operations. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION: There have been many reports describing individual POCT technologies but there are no recent studies describing the organizational scope and impact of a POCT program. METHODS: Our menu of POCT tests has increased to 26 and the test volume to 664,287 tests/year equivalent to 14.5% of the volume of the central core laboratory. POCT is performed in nearly all inpatient units and in a variety of outpatient settings. RESULTS: Cumulatively 84.6% of the test volume and most testing sites can be accounted for by 4 traditional tests (bedside glucose testing, fecal occult blood, dipstick urinalysis and activated clotting time). Most POCT tests are not performed because of a true medical necessity but rather to improve the efficiency of clinical operations. CONCLUSION: We are experiencing a significant increase in requests for new POCT tests. Unlike established high volume conventional POC tests, these new requests originate from specialized services seeking to improve the efficiency of clinical operations. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors: Max L Balter; Alvin I Chen; C Amara Colinco; Alexander Gorshkov; Brian Bixon; Vincent Martin; Alexander Fromholtz; Timothy J Maguire; Martin L Yarmush Journal: Anal Methods Date: 2016-10-28 Impact factor: 2.896