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Point‐of‐care testing for community‐acquired pneumonia: do we have all the answers?
Author(s) -
Dwyer Dominic E,
Sintchenko Vitali
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01113.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pneumonia , point of care testing , intensive care medicine , community acquired pneumonia , public health , pathology
Point‐of‐care tests (POCTs) are available for rapid, “bedside” diagnosis of some causes of community‐acquired pneumonia. POCTs complement other laboratory investigations for pneumonia. Although their sensitivity and specificity are improving, they are generally less sensitive than nucleic acid amplification and culture techniques. Questions remain as to the most cost‐effective use of POCTs in clinical practice. To ensure their maximum value for both individual patients and the public health system, POCTs are probably best used as part of laboratory‐designed algorithms for investigating pneumonia. POCTs are a valuable tool for surveillance, for rapid investigation of outbreaks, and for use in laboratories with limited diagnostic facilities.