Patient satisfaction with point-of-care testing in general practice.
BACKGROUND
Point-of-care testing is increasingly being used in general practice to assist GPs in their management of patients with chronic disease. However, patient satisfaction and acceptability of point-of-care testing in general practice has not been widely studied.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if patients are more satisfied with point-of-care testing than with pathology laboratory testing for three chronic conditions.


METHODS
As part of a large multicentre, randomised, controlled trial assessing the use of point-of-care testing in Australian general practice, satisfaction was measured for patients having pathology testing performed by point-of-care testing devices or pathology laboratories. Patients in the trial were managed by GPs for diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, and/or anticoagulant therapy.


METHODS
Patient satisfaction was measured using level of agreement with a variety of statements at the end of the study with a patient satisfaction questionnaire for both the intervention and control groups. Analysis was performed using a mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA) with allowance for clustering at the practice level following Box-Cox transformations of the data to achieve normality.


RESULTS
Overall, intervention patients reported that they were satisfied with point-of-care testing. In comparison with the control group, the intervention group had a higher level of agreement than control patients with statements relating to their satisfaction with the collection process (P<0.001) and confidence in the process (P<0.001). They also viewed point-of-care testing as strengthening their relationship with their GP (P = 0.010) and motivational in terms of better managing their condition (P<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The results from this trial support patient satisfaction and acceptability of point-of-care testing in a general practice setting.
Laurence
Caroline O
CO
Discipline of General Practice, The University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. caroline.laurence@adelaide.edu.au
Gialamas
Angela
A
Bubner
Tanya
T
Yelland
Lisa
L
Willson
Kristyn
K
Ryan
Phil
P
Beilby
Justin
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D055815:Young Adult