Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean

Background: Short-term, primary care medical service trips (MSTs) frequently use inexpensive, portable point of care (POC) tests to guide diagnosis and treatment of patients in low-resource settings. However, the degree to which different POC tests are carried by organizations serving remote communi...

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Autores principales:	Christopher Dainton, Nikki Shah, Charlene H. Chu
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Ubiquity Press 2018
Materias:	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d83d372d5b6a496889c761a16e1a32ea
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d83d372d5b6a496889c761a16e1a32ea2021-12-02T07:34:56ZPrevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean2214-999610.29024/aogh.2385https://doaj.org/article/d83d372d5b6a496889c761a16e1a32ea2018-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/2385https://doaj.org/toc/2214-9996Background: Short-term, primary care medical service trips (MSTs) frequently use inexpensive, portable point of care (POC) tests to guide diagnosis and treatment of patients in low-resource settings. However, the degree to which different POC tests are carried by organizations serving remote communities is currently unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of various POC tests used by MST-sending organizations operating in Latin America. Methods: We surveyed 166 organizations operating mobile MSTs in Latin America and the Caribbean on the types of POC tests carried on their brigades. Findings: Forty-eight organizations responded (response rate: 28.9%). The most commonly carried tests were glucometers (40/48; 83.3%), urine dipsticks (31/48; 77.1%), and urine pregnancy tests (32/48; 66.7%). Fewer groups carried hemoglobinometers (16/48; 33.3%), malaria diagnostic tests (18/48; 37.5%), tests for sexually transmitted infection (8/48; 16.7%), or portable ultrasound (19/48; 40.0%). Conclusions: These tests may be useful for field diagnosis, but clinicians should understand the performance limitations of each test compared to its gold standard. When combined with knowledge of local epidemiology, these exploratory results will be useful in resource planning, guidelines development for MSTs, and in establishing minimum recommendations for diagnostic resources that should be available on MSTs.Christopher DaintonNikki ShahCharlene H. ChuUbiquity PressarticleInfectious and parasitic diseasesRC109-216Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENAnnals of Global Health, Vol 84, Iss 4, Pp 736-742 (2018)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Christopher Dainton Nikki Shah Charlene H. Chu Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean
description	Background: Short-term, primary care medical service trips (MSTs) frequently use inexpensive, portable point of care (POC) tests to guide diagnosis and treatment of patients in low-resource settings. However, the degree to which different POC tests are carried by organizations serving remote communities is currently unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of various POC tests used by MST-sending organizations operating in Latin America. Methods: We surveyed 166 organizations operating mobile MSTs in Latin America and the Caribbean on the types of POC tests carried on their brigades. Findings: Forty-eight organizations responded (response rate: 28.9%). The most commonly carried tests were glucometers (40/48; 83.3%), urine dipsticks (31/48; 77.1%), and urine pregnancy tests (32/48; 66.7%). Fewer groups carried hemoglobinometers (16/48; 33.3%), malaria diagnostic tests (18/48; 37.5%), tests for sexually transmitted infection (8/48; 16.7%), or portable ultrasound (19/48; 40.0%). Conclusions: These tests may be useful for field diagnosis, but clinicians should understand the performance limitations of each test compared to its gold standard. When combined with knowledge of local epidemiology, these exploratory results will be useful in resource planning, guidelines development for MSTs, and in establishing minimum recommendations for diagnostic resources that should be available on MSTs.
format	article
author	Christopher Dainton Nikki Shah Charlene H. Chu
author_facet	Christopher Dainton Nikki Shah Charlene H. Chu
author_sort	Christopher Dainton
title	Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_short	Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_full	Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_fullStr	Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_full_unstemmed	Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_sort	prevalence of portable point of care tests used on medical service trips in latin america and the caribbean
publisher	Ubiquity Press
publishDate	2018
url	https://doaj.org/article/d83d372d5b6a496889c761a16e1a32ea
work_keys_str_mv	AT christopherdainton prevalenceofportablepointofcaretestsusedonmedicalservicetripsinlatinamericaandthecaribbean AT nikkishah prevalenceofportablepointofcaretestsusedonmedicalservicetripsinlatinamericaandthecaribbean AT charlenehchu prevalenceofportablepointofcaretestsusedonmedicalservicetripsinlatinamericaandthecaribbean
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Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean

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