RESEARCH LETTER
Angela Goodhart, PharmD; Heather Johnson, PharmD; Erika Bodkins, MD; Kelsey Samek, RN
Corresponding Author: Angela Goodhart, PharmD; West Virginia University School of Pharmacy
Email: angela.goodhart@hsc.wvu.edu
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2023.230425R1
Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Hb A1c, Patient Satisfaction, Point-of-Care Systems, Primary Health Care, Rural Population
Dates: Submitted: 11-22-2023; Revised: 12-12-2023; Accepted: 04-15-2024
FINAL PUBLICATION: |HTML| |PDF|
Without compromising accuracy, point of care testing (POCT) provides immediate results at the time of in person patient consultation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate time until therapeutic intervention with POCT HbA1c versus venipuncture, where venipuncture was considered standard of care. The primary outcome was time (hours) to implementation of a therapeutic intervention based on POCT HbA1c result, as compared to most recent venipuncture HbA1c prior to the study and its associated therapeutic intervention. A total of 94 POCT HbA1c tests were included in the primary analysis. For the POCT HbA1c, the mean time to therapeutic intervention was 1.6 + 3.14 hours. For the previous venipuncture HbA1c, the mean time to therapeutic intervention was 1376.66 + 3356.6 hours (p<0.001). Overall, this trial showed that POCT HbA1c results in a significantly faster time to therapeutic intervention than venipuncture in a primary care clinic that serves a rural population.