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. 2022 Feb 19;12(2):533.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12020533.

Understanding Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives on Point-of-Care Testing

Sean Teebagy  1 , Ziyue Wang  1 , Denise Dunlap  2 , Connor Saleeba  1 , Danielle DiMezza  1 , JoAnn Crain  3 , Craig M Lilly  1   4   5 , Bryan Buchholz  6 , David D McManus  1   7 , Nathaniel Hafer  8   9
Affiliations

Understanding Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives on Point-of-Care Testing

Sean Teebagy et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Point-of-care testing (POCT) is an emerging technology that provides crucial assistance in delivering healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the accelerated importance of POCT technology due to its in-home accessibility. While POCT use and implementation has increased, little research has been published about how healthcare professionals perceive these technologies. The objective of our study was to examine the current perspectives of healthcare professionals towards POCT. We surveyed healthcare professionals to quantify perceptions of POCT usage, adoption, benefits, and concerns between October 2020 and November 2020. Questions regarding POCT perception were assessed on a 5-point Likert Scale. We received a total of 287 survey responses. Of the respondents, 53.7% were male, 66.6% were white, and 30.7% have been in practice for over 20 years. We found that the most supported benefit was POCTs ability to improve patient management (92%) and that the most supported concern was that POCTs lead to over-testing (30%). This study provides a better understanding of healthcare workers' perspectives on POCT. To improve patient outcomes through the usage of POCT, greater research is needed to assess the needs and concerns of industry and healthcare stakeholders.

Keywords: healthcare provider survey; point-of-care testing; rapid testing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders contributed to the design of the survey used in this study; but they did not contribute in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of survey distribution via various mailing lists.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of United States-Based Respondents Based on State of Practice. Powered by Bing © GeoNames, Microsoft, TomTom.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Participant responses to statements regarding the benefits of POCT. Survey respondents were given 15 statements regarding the potential benefits of POCT, and were asked to respond that they “strongly agreed”, “agreed”, were “neutral/not sure”, “disagreed”, or “strongly disagreed” with the statement. The percentage of respondents who said they agree or strongly agree is shown to the right of each statement.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Participant response to statements regarding the concerns over POCT. Survey respondents were given 14 statements regarding potential concerns over POCT and were asked to respond that they “strongly agreed”, “agreed”, were “neutral/not sure”, “disagreed”, or “strongly disagreed” with the statement. The percentage of respondents who said they agree or strongly agree is shown to the right of each statement.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Participant response to statements regarding the adoption of POCT. Survey respondents were given 6 statements regarding adoption of POCT in their clinical practice and were asked to respond that they “strongly agreed”, “agreed”, were “neutral/not sure”, “disagreed’, or “strongly disagreed” with the statement. The percentage of respondents who said they agree or strongly agree is shown to the right of each statement.
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