Current Clinical Practices and Future Perspectives for Primary Healthcare Use of Point-of-Care Devices: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: Expanding access to screening through primary care is essential to address changes in disease patterns, patients’ needs, and demographics. Point-of-care test (POCT) devices play a crucial role in providing primary care and have positive operational and economic impacts compared to central laboratories. Despite their importance, the implementation of POCT devices in primary care remains low. This scoping review aims to map the current evidence on POCT types and their current uses in primary care.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley, and further refined by Levac et al. and the Joanna Briggs Institute. Our process included five stages: identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, study selection, charting the data, and collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar for studies published between 2018 and 2023 on the use of POCTs in primary care settings for adult populations. Our findings were summarized using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Results: The search yielded 43,913 publications, of which, 167 met the inclusion criteria. From these studies, biomarker detection tests were used in 33.5%, antibody tests in 21.6%, other POCTs in 17.4%, POC technologies in 11.4%, antigen tests in 8.4%, and POC molecular tests in 7.8%. Across studies, 46.7% targeted communicable diseases, 39.5% targeted noncommunicable diseases, and 13.8% for other diseases. POC devices are mainly used for communicable diseases in urban healthcare settings, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). POC devices are used primarily for noncommunicable diseases in urban healthcare settings, particularly in high-income countries.

Conclusion: This scoping review has mapped the evidence and highlighted gaps regarding POCTs used in primary care. The findings can be used to design and effectively implement sustainable patients’ healthcare journeys to accommodate the changes in patients’ demographics and healthcare needs.