Public Health Wales Microbiology Cardiff, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF14 4XW, UK.
J Hosp Infect. 2013 Sep;85(1):1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2013.06.005. Epub 2013 Aug 2.
A point-of-care test (POCT) offers a rapid result to manage a patient immediately. The presumed simplicity of such tests belies observed variation between personnel in performing and interpreting results when not appropriately trained. The number of point-of-care devices being developed for the diagnosis of infectious diseases is increasing; by understanding the limitations associated with their use, such tests for infection control purposes may be possible.
To review the expanding repertoire of POCTs for the diagnosis of infectious diseases and to assess their utility as tools to aid in the reduction of hospital-acquired infection and outbreak management.
A systematic review using PubMed and Scopus of published literature on the subject of POCTs for the diagnosis of infectious diseases.
Although the number of publications describing POCTs is increasing, there remains a paucity of literature describing their use in a clinical setting. Of the literature reviewed, POCTs for the diagnosis of respiratory syncytial virus and norovirus have the greatest utility in an infection control setting, although the data suggest that sensitivity and training issues might be a problem. The future generation of POCT devices is likely to be molecular-based, improving sensitivity but at a significant cost to the user.
POCTs have a role in infection control but currently the lack of good, consistent clinical data surrounding their use outside of the laboratory is a limiting factor in their implementation.
即时护理检测（POCT）可即时提供检测结果，以帮助管理患者。但此类检测在实际应用中，由于检测人员未经适当培训，在操作和解释检测结果时可能存在差异，其实际表现与人们的预期并不相符。目前，用于诊断传染病的 POCT 设备数量不断增加；通过了解这些检测在应用过程中的局限性，就有可能将其用于感染控制目的。
综述用于诊断传染病的 POCT 技术的扩展应用，并评估其作为辅助工具在减少医院获得性感染和暴发管理方面的应用价值。
使用 PubMed 和 Scopus 对 POCT 用于诊断传染病的相关文献进行系统综述。
尽管描述 POCT 的出版物数量在不断增加，但在临床环境中应用此类检测的文献仍相对较少。在综述的文献中，用于诊断呼吸道合胞病毒和诺如病毒的 POCT 在感染控制环境中具有最大的应用价值，尽管数据表明其敏感性和培训问题可能是一个问题。未来的 POCT 设备很可能基于分子检测，虽然可提高检测的敏感性，但会显著增加用户的成本。
POCT 在感染控制方面具有一定作用，但目前缺乏关于其在实验室以外环境中应用的良好、一致的临床数据，这限制了其应用。
