POCT — Point-of-Care Testing

What Is POCT?

POCT (Point-of-Care Testing) refers to diagnostic testing performed at or near the site of patient care — at the bedside, in the emergency room, operating room, or clinic — rather than in the central laboratory. It includes glucose meters, blood gas analyzers, rapid strep, influenza and COVID-19 tests, and coagulation testing.

The main advantage of POCT is speed: results are available in minutes instead of hours, enabling immediate clinical decisions. In emergency situations, this speed can be critical to patient outcomes.

However, POCT presents significant challenges: ensuring quality control outside the controlled laboratory environment, training the personnel who operate the devices, and ensuring results are integrated into the electronic health record. A modern LIS addresses these challenges by connecting POCT devices with the central system.

Why It Matters in Healthcare

• Immediate results: Provides results in minutes, enabling urgent clinical decisions that cannot wait for the central laboratory.
• Emergency care: In the ER and intensive care, POCT allows action based on real-time diagnostic information.
• Decentralization: Brings diagnostics closer to the patient, reducing sample transport times and waiting for results.
• Quality control: Requires specific QC programs for POCT devices, integrated with laboratory quality control.
• Data integration: Results must flow into the patient's clinical record for a comprehensive view of their health.

How Davix Relates to POCT

• The Davix LIS can integrate POCT device results into the central laboratory system, maintaining quality oversight.
• It ensures POCT results appear in the patient's clinical record within the HIS.
• It applies quality control rules to POCT devices to maintain consistent analytical standards.
• It supports integration with multiple POCT analyzers on the market.

Integrate your POCT devices with the Davix ecosystem. Request a demo to learn how to centralize all your diagnostic results.