Evolving perceptions of point-of-care-technologies: Results from a nationwide survey of healthcare professionals.

Background/objective: Point-of-care technologies (POCTs) have grown increasingly prevalent in clinical and at-home settings, offering various rapid diagnostic capabilities. This study presents findings from a nationwide survey conducted between November 2023 and January 2024, capturing clinician perceptions of POCTs.

Methods: The survey was distributed via email to healthcare professionals through academic and industry listservs and through LinkedIn posts. A total of 159 responses were analyzed.

Results: Core priorities, including accuracy, ease of use, and availability, remain consistently valued over the years. However, several perceived benefits, including continuous patient monitoring, diagnostic certainty, and patient management exhibited significant declines in agreement compared to previous years. Despite this, clinician perceptions of POCTs' abilities to enhance patient-provider communication remained stable. Evolving concerns may reflect heightened expectations and greater scrutiny as these technologies become commonplace. Agreement that POCTs may undermine clinical expertise increases, while concerns related to reimbursement and usability decline. Pilot questions related to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) indicated moderate openness to adopting AI-enhanced POCTs, particularly with tools offering novel clinical insights.

Conclusions: While POCTs continue to be an asset in clinical settings, the findings of this study suggest a shift in provider attitudes toward a more neutral standpoint. Limitations include a low response rate, self-selection, and missing demographic data from a subset of participants. Future surveys will further integrate AI/ML-related questions while prioritizing broader demographic and geographic reach.