Point Of Care Diagnostics Has Become Critical Medical Testing As It Reduces Hospital Stay, Use Of Blood Products, And Provides Optimized Drug Treatment

 

Point of care diagnostics involves the collection of data from a medical procedure or test that is performed in an environment where the possibility of encountering a potential problem is high. It refers to both sterile and non-sterile methods of keeping track of biological samples, including biological samples obtained during blood draws, urine collections, or any other kind of specimen taken from a patient. The process of collecting and interpreting results from the point of care tests can be labor-intensive and stressful. Therefore, many hospitals and health care centers make use of experienced medical surveillance staff in order to reduce the costs of this important service.

Point of care diagnostics can be performed in a number of different ways. Typically, it is performed in an area where the patient will either rest or be observed whilst receiving a blood sample or urine sample from a catheter inserted into the veins of the lower leg or elsewhere in the body. Alternatively, a small collection device called a venipuncture instrument is used, which consists of a slender flexible tube that has a needle at one end and a small hollow ball (collecting vial) at the other. Blood or urine is first drawn from the vial using a disposable syringe before the samples are passed through a specially designed filter that traps harmful bacteria.

One example of a simple, routine diagnostic procedure is the examination of a patient for signs of infection with selected high-risk medical conditions. The use of a simple symptom score to measure infection-specific antibodies may be used. The same procedure could be done for viral infections, chemical agents, and other pathogens. Point of care diagnostics can identify the presence of a potentially dangerous condition such as HIV and hepatitis B infection in the bloodstream, which can potentially lead to serious health consequences. Recently, in March 2020, Abbott received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its emergency use authorization (EUA) for the fastest available molecular point-of-care test for the detection of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).