Point of care testing

Point of care testing, also known as near-patient testing, is the analysis of clinical specimens outside the traditional laboratory - near to or at the site of patient care. It may be performed by non-laboratory roles, including clinical staff whose primary training is not in medical laboratory science. It has an important role to play in the delivery of an efficient healthcare system because of its ability to provide a rapid result near the patient, which can be acted on immediately, and which may lead to a diagnosis or a possible change in patient care.

POC testing and guidance is often focused on hospital testing without specific guidance for general practice. Within general practice, there are quality assurance requirements for enhancing patient safety, through safe use of medication and resources, and to provide staff and patients confidence in accessing timely results.  

POCT has the potential for less accurate results than traditional laboratory testing. This can be due to variable personnel training and control over pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical variables, which can be better managed in a laboratory setting (Larkins et al, 2023).  

Larkins MC, Thombare A. Point-of-Care Testing. 2023 May 29. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan–. PMID: 37276307.

Pinnacle has developed guidance (linked below) around the use of POCT in general practice, to address concerns raised by literature of out-of-hospital testing and to work with RNZCGP to align with their quality assurance Foundation Standard. 

Adverse events are defined as “injuries related to medical management in contrast to complications of disease”. In the context of POCT, they would be related to the processes and outcomes of near-patient testing.

We encourage the use of our specific POCT adverse event monitoring system (also linked below) when such an event or near miss occurs. This data is reviewed by the Pinnacle Clinical Governance Committee to identify what we, as an organisation, can learn from its increased use in general practice. Reporting and monitoring of adverse events is vital for secondary prevention of failures and as a learning tool. Reporting POCT adverse events supports post-market surveillance and monitoring of devices aimed at improving patient safety. It ultimately leads to improved models of care and enhances primary prevention.

For further queries, contact the Pinnacle Projects Team.