Point of care testing in a large urban academic medical center: evolving test menu and clinical applications.
BACKGROUND
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Lee-Lewandrowski
Elizabeth
E
Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Gray 5 Chemistry, 55 Fruit Street Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Gregory
Kimberly
K
Lewandrowski
Kent
K
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009780:Occult Blood; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D016482:Urinalysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D001786:Blood Glucose