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Multicenter Study
. 2018 Nov 5;84(4):736-742.
doi: 10.9204/aogh.2385.

Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean

Christopher Dainton  1   2   3 , Nikki Shah  4 , Charlene H Chu  5
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean

Christopher Dainton et al. Ann Glob Health. .

Abstract

Background: Short-term, primary care medical service trips (MSTs) frequently use inexpensive, portable point of care (POC) tests to guide diagnosis and treatment of patients in low-resource settings. However, the degree to which different POC tests are carried by organizations serving remote communities is currently unknown.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of various POC tests used by MST-sending organizations operating in Latin America.

Methods: We surveyed 166 organizations operating mobile MSTs in Latin America and the Caribbean on the types of POC tests carried on their brigades.

Findings: Forty-eight organizations responded (response rate: 28.9%). The most commonly carried tests were glucometers (40/48; 83.3%), urine dipsticks (31/48; 77.1%), and urine pregnancy tests (32/48; 66.7%). Fewer groups carried hemoglobinometers (16/48; 33.3%), malaria diagnostic tests (18/48; 37.5%), tests for sexually transmitted infection (8/48; 16.7%), or portable ultrasound (19/48; 40.0%).

Conclusions: These tests may be useful for field diagnosis, but clinicians should understand the performance limitations of each test compared to its gold standard. When combined with knowledge of local epidemiology, these exploratory results will be useful in resource planning, guidelines development for MSTs, and in establishing minimum recommendations for diagnostic resources that should be available on MSTs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of organizations operating mobile MSTs who were asked to describe their point of care testing resources.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of organizations operating mobile MSTs in Latin America and the Caribbean carrying selected point of care tests (N = 48).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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