Point of care testing: Knowledge and utilization amongst Doctors in Government hospitals in Edo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the knowledge and utilization of point of care testing (POCT) amongst doctors in two health facilities in Edo State, Nigeria.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out using a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected from 174 doctors in both centers using a 25 item structured questionnaire which was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.

The mean age of respondents was 31.26±2.14 years with 120 (69.0%) males and 54 (31.0%) females (male: female=2.2:1). Knowledge of POCT and utilization of POCT devices was good in 50.6% and 32.2% of respondents respectively. Utilization of POCT correlated significantly with knowledge of POCT (r=0.67, P<0.001) and availability of POCT devices (r=0.43, P<0.001). There was statistically significant association between utilization of POCT devices and Hospital (χ2=9.95, P=0.002); job designation (χ2=10.03, P=0.018) and availability of POCT devices (χ2=6.80, P=0.001). However, no statistically significant relationship was found between utilization of POCT devices and sex (χ2=0.23, P=0.629).

Promotion of POCT's utilization with regulation, training of doctors and establishment of regulatory framework/assessment teams will help improve healthcare services and achieve more beneficial outcomes. That way, POCT that is faster could be better.