Martin-Perez, Salomon , Fuentes-Cantero, Sandra , Navarro-Bustos, Carmen , Garrido, Jose M. , Fernandez-Riejos, Patricia , Oltra Hostalet, Fernando , Morales Barroso, Isabel , Romero, Herminia , Jimenez-Barragan, Marta , Sanchez-Mora, Catalina , LEÓN JUSTEL, ANTONIO
No
Clin Chem Lab Med
Article
Científica
1
1
06/05/2026
001756486800001
2-s2.0-105038767765
Objectives To evaluate the real-world impact of Point-of-Care Testing on care timeliness and patient flow in the emergency department.Methods A before-and-after, matched-cohort study was conducted involving 25,291 patients with Emergency Severity Index levels 3-4. A POCT group (n=8,746) was compared against a Central Laboratory Group (n=16,545) to measure length of stay (LOS), time to clinical decision (TCD), and laboratory turnaround time (LTAT).Results POCT achieved a statistically significant 69.3 % reduction in LTAT. TCD improved by 39.5 % (83.4 min; 127.8 vs. 211.2 min) and overall, LOS decreased by 29.2 % (85.4 min; 207.4 vs. 292.8 min). Subgroup analysis showed the greatest efficiency gains in lab-dependent conditions like fever (34.8 % LOS reduction) and gastroenteritis (37.3 %). The actual device usage rate was 34.58 % in daily clinical practice.Conclusions Real-world implementation of POCT significantly optimizes ED throughput for high-volume, low-severity patients. These findings validate that the clinical benefits observed in previous controlled trials are reproducible and sustainable in complex, high-pressure clinical settings.
clinical decision-making; emergency department; laboratory turnaround time; length of stay; point-of-care testing; real-world evidence