Technical and clinical niches for point of care molecular devices

Abstract

A point of care (POC) device is one that is used outside of a central laboratory environment; generally near, or at the site of the patient/client. Point of care testing (POCT) varies from tests performed in physician's office labs, or satellite or stat labs, to tests performed on tabletop instruments in a clinic area, to testing performed with hand-held instruments at the bedside. In peripheral lab settings, POCT may be performed by trained laboratory staff, but clinic and bedside POCT is frequently performed by staff who lack specialized laboratory training and whose primary job is something other than doing lab tests.