The introduction of POCTs was also seen by health care professionals as promoting the humanization of epidemiology—that is, sharing control of illness diagnosis and management with patients rather than remaining provider-driven.
The scientists argued that "grey swan events," which are predicted yet unpredictable, might affect attitudes and behaviours, such as how countries manage and give access to health care, as well as providing unique chances to encourage innovation. One such grey swan opportunity was COVID-19.
"I was attempting to figure out if there was any kind of positive trajectory that occurred as a result of COVID," said senior author Denise R. Dunlap, PhD, associate professor of global strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation at UMass Lowell's Manning School of Business. "Fortunately, we had data before COVID hit." Following that, we had another survey that was being distributed during the pandemic. As a result, it presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to investigate trends before and after COVID."
According to the paper's authors, few prior research have looked at factors influencing POCT uptake among health care workers. COVID-19 gave a chance to highlight the shortcomings of health-care delivery systems, such as reliance on laboratory-based diagnostic technologies, and to swiftly develop novel solutions to meet patient requirements.
"For a long time, point of care was really a backwater," Dr. Hafer explained. "Now that we've had the COVID experience, everyone understands what an at-home test is and the advantages of being able to test yourself." So the discussion has shifted from "What the hell is this all about?" to "How do we apply this now to cancer or other infectious diseases, etc."
Researchers in the current study distributed identical surveys to a network of health care providers, researchers, and medical device developers. From October 2019 through late March 2020, the first survey was distributed. The second was distributed in late October and November 2020.
Respondents were asked to describe up to five situations for which a POCT may aid in disease diagnosis; up to five conditions for which a POCT could aid in disease monitoring or management; and which qualities of POCT are most significant when implementing it into their normal practise.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors established 18 medical condition categories for which POCTs may be utilised to identify a disease. Diabetes mellitus was prominent among these, followed by infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, and haematological diseases.
POCTs' perceptions for disease management or monitoring have also altered. Prior to the pandemic, health care experts ranked cardiovascular illness as the category for which point-of-care technology could be most useful in monitoring or managing. Endocrine illnesses were recognised as the condition for which POCT was most beneficial after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. However, metabolic illnesses have received the most attention.
