Point‐of‐Care Analyser

This chapter discusses the purpose, principle of operation, specifications, and applications of a point-of-care testing (POCT) analyser that is used to perform analytical tests at or near the site where the patient is located, rather than in the traditional environment of a clinical laboratory. POCT provides a test result rapidly and in a timely manner at the bedside of the patient, which particularly proves useful in the emergency department or the intensive care unit, surgeries, other critical areas of the hospital, workplace clinics, and general practitioners. Modern POCT devices are capable of performing a comprehensive panel of critical tests. Cartridges are now available for testing blood gases, electrolytes, chemistries, coagulation, haematology, glucose, and cardiac markers. Since the POCT devices for blood gas/critical care analysers are designed to address the overcrowding crisis in the emergency department by providing improved turnaround time of urgent tests, their application areas are expanding rapidly.