Point of Care Testing

What is POCT?

Point Of Care Testing devices that deliver results in minutes rather than days are poised to revolutionise the delivery of medicine.

The benefits of Point Of care Tests are well known and accepted – the key factor is the availability of the test results then and there, allowing immediate clinical action.

Immediate forwarding of results

Clinical Universe software forwards the test details electronically to the patient’s physician, using encrypted point-to-point transmission. This arrives at the physician’s electronic medical record in the same way as any external laboratory result does. We use standard messaging protocols – NHS EDIFACT in the UK, ebXML in Scandinavia, or HL7 just about everywhere else.

Mandatory notification to health authorities

Many infectious disease tests with a positive result require mandatory notification to the health authorities. Legislation varies by disease, and by health authority. During pandemics or epidemic outbreaks, even negative results must be recorded for analysis.

Quality assurance of accurate test results

Quality procedures are the key to maintaining accuracy and satisfying reimbursement requirement or CLIA regulations.

Clinical Universe software can automatically pass all test results to a central site where a laboratory scientist supervises adherence to quality procedures and training.

Clinical Universe provides software which supports this quality assurance oversight, highlighting overdue quality control tests, repeated operator errors, or untrained operators.

This oversight combined with auditing can allow certification of Point Of Care Testing operations, giving confidence in their clinical accuracy to any clinician basing decisions on the results.