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Research

Point-of-care testing in primary care: needs and attitudes of Irish GPs

Laima Varzgaliene, Adrienne Heerey, Charlie Cox, Tomas McGuinness, Genevieve McGuire, Jochen WL Cals, Eamonn O'Shea and Maureen Kelly
BJGP Open 2018; 1 (4): bjgpopen17X101229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgpopen17X101229
Laima Varzgaliene
1 GP Registrar, Western Training Programme in General Practice, Irish College of General Practitioners, , Republic of Ireland
MD, MICGP
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  • For correspondence: laima.varzg@gmail.com
Adrienne Heerey
2 GP Registrar, Western Training Programme in General Practice, Irish College of General Practitioners, , Republic of Ireland
PhD, MICGP
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Charlie Cox
3 GP Registrar, Western Training Programme in General Practice, Irish College of General Practitioners, , Republic of Ireland
MCEM, MICGP
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Tomas McGuinness
4 GP Registrar, Western Training Programme in General Practice, Irish College of General Practitioners, , Republic of Ireland
MICGP
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Genevieve McGuire
5 GP and Programme Director, Western Training Programme in General Practice, Irish College of General Practitioners, , Republic of Ireland
MRCGP, MICGP
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Jochen WL Cals
6 GP and Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI Care and Public Health Institute, Maastricht University, , The Netherlands
MD, PhD
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Eamonn O'Shea
7 GP and Assistant Programme Director, Western Training Programme in General Practice, Irish College of General Practitioners, , Republic of Ireland
MICGP, M Occ Med
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Maureen Kelly
8 GP and Assistant Programme Director, Western Training Programme in General Practice, Irish College of General Practitioners, , Republic of Ireland
PhD, MICGP, FRCGP
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Abstract

Background Studies outside of Ireland have demonstrated that GPs believe point-of-care tests (POCTs) are useful and would like to have more of these tests available in daily practice. This study establishes the views of Irish GPs on this topic for the first time and also explores GPs’ perceptions of barriers to having POCT devices in primary care.

Aim To establish Irish GPs' perception of the benefits and barriers to POCT use.

Design & setting A quantitative cross-sectional observational survey of Irish GPs attending continuing medical educational meetings (CME) in November 2015.

Method Data was collected using an anonymous and confidential questionnaire.

Results Out of a total of 250, 70% of GPs (n = 143) completed the questionnaire. Of these, 92% (n = 132) indicated they would like to have access to POCTs. Guidance in decision making 43% (n = 61), reduced referral rates 29% (n = 42), and diagnosis assistance 13% (n = 18) were the main benefits expressed. Cost 45% (n = 64) and time 34% (n = 48) were the main barriers identified.

Conclusion This study proved that Irish GPs would also like increased access to POCTs. They feel that these tests would benefit patient care. Unsurprisingly, cost and time were two barriers identified to using POCT devices, which supports outcomes from studies. Radical changes would be required in primary care to facilitate implementation of POCTs and attention must be paid to how the costs of POCTs will be funded. This study may act as a prompt for future international research to further explore this area.

  • Point of care testing (POCT)
  • primary care
  • general practice
  • attitudes
  • benefits
  • barriers
  • Received May 24, 2017.
  • Accepted August 29, 2017.
  • Copyright © The Authors 2017

This article is Open Access: CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Point-of-care testing in primary care: needs and attitudes of Irish GPs
Laima Varzgaliene, Adrienne Heerey, Charlie Cox, Tomas McGuinness, Genevieve McGuire, Jochen WL Cals, Eamonn O'Shea, Maureen Kelly
BJGP Open 2018; 1 (4): bjgpopen17X101229. DOI: 10.3399/bjgpopen17X101229

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Point-of-care testing in primary care: needs and attitudes of Irish GPs
Laima Varzgaliene, Adrienne Heerey, Charlie Cox, Tomas McGuinness, Genevieve McGuire, Jochen WL Cals, Eamonn O'Shea, Maureen Kelly
BJGP Open 2018; 1 (4): bjgpopen17X101229. DOI: 10.3399/bjgpopen17X101229
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Keywords

  • Point of care testing (POCT)
  • primary care
  • general practice
  • attitudes
  • benefits
  • barriers

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