Point-of-care testing as the future of pre-hospital emergency medicine: an overview

Abstract

Point-of-care testing (POCT) plays an increasingly important role in pre-emergency medicine by ensuring that patient’s continuum of care is commenced before arrival at health facilities. Given the benefits of POCT during the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary described the advantages and disadvantages of POCT, and its current practices in pre-hospital emergency medicine. Point-of-care tests are easy to operate, cost-effective, and yield quick and accurate response, but are posed with challenges such as safety errors, poor adherence to quality control standards, and inspection errors. To optimize the benefits of POCT in pre-emergency medicine, it is required that regular trainings are conducted for POCT operators, and total compliance to POCT handling and management guidelines should be considered by each POCT operator.