The future of point-of-care testing in emergency departments

Emergency physicians and administrators continue to face operational challenges as they attempt to increase emergency department (ED) efficiency and throughput to meet the growing demand for emergency health services. Point-of-care (POC) testing technology can provide clinicians with accurate and reliable results with at least a 50% reduction in turnaround time. Despite the near perfect alignment of POC technology goals with ED operational strategy, there has been a relatively slow adoption of comprehensive POC systems. The authors discuss current market trends for the POC products in the ED and review trends in outcomes data (including operational, clinical and financial). The authors also discuss observed managerial obstacles to implementation. The goal of this paper is to provide readers with a business psychology perspective on the current challenges that organizations face in adopting a new technology and provide an evaluation of the key drivers that influence institutional-level decisions to implement an ED-based POC system. The reader will gain an understanding of the dynamic forces that are slowing the adoption of POC technology. Also, the reader is provided with the authors' future perspectives for POC testing in emergency medicine. The current healthcare system is putting a lot of pressure on EDs to be able to provide efficient care using advanced diagnostic tests. Clinicians and administrators alike must understand the gaps between the clinician's perceived benefit of POC testing and the inconsistent literature on the operational and clinical outcomes before adopting POC systems in ED.