ArticleCritical care (London, England)2014
Point-of-care testing in the overcrowded emergency department--can it make a difference?
Article in Critical care (London, England), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound in adult non-traumatic emergency medicine: an umbrella review.BMC medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Effective strategies for reducing patient length of stay in the emergency department: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Point-of-care testing improves care timeliness in the emergency department. A multicenter randomized clinical trial (study POCTUR).Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine · 2025Trial
- The cost-effectiveness of upfront point-of-care testing in the emergency department: a secondary analysis of a randomised, controlled trial.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2019Trial
- Factors affecting time-to-disposition at a district hospital emergency centre in Cape Town, South Africa.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Article
- Pan-Cell Death Protein Signature as a Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker for Intracerebral Hemorrhage.Journal of proteome research · 2026Article
- A Mini-Review of Point-of-Care C-Reactive Protein Testing in Sepsis in the Emergency Department.EJIFCC · 2026Review
- Development and validation of identification models for aortic dissection and non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome in the emergency department.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Microscope-Free Analyte Detection Based on Fiber-Optic Gliding Motility Assays.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- H-FABP as a Biomarker in Transient Ischemic Attack.Journal of cardiovascular translational research · 2025Article
- A National survey describing the quality of care in Paediatric Emergency Departments of Tertiary Hospitals in Nigeria.African health sciences · 2024Article
- Observational
- Review
- Single-sided magnetic resonance-based sensor for point-of-care evaluation of muscle.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Recommendations on Rapid Diagnostic Point-of-care Molecular Tests for Respiratory Infections in the United Arab Emirates.The open respiratory medicine journal · 2024Review
- Challenges and Facilitators for HIV Testing Services and HIV Self-Testing Programming During Emergency Care in Kenya: A Qualitative Study of Patients.Journal of sexual health and AIDS research · 2024Article
- Benefits, barriers and facilitators for out-of-hospital point of care testing: a qualitative study.NIHR open research · 2024Article
- Nurses' perception of emergency department overcrowding: A qualitative study.Journal of education and health promotion · 2023Article
- D-dimer Testing in Pulmonary Embolism with a Focus on Potential Pitfalls: A Narrative Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Emergency departments (EDs) face several challenges in maintaining consistent quality care in the face of steadily increasing public demand. Improvements in the survival rate of critically ill patients in the ED are directly related to the advancement of early recognition and treatment. Frequent episodes of overcrowding and prolonged waiting times force EDs to operate beyond their capacity and threaten to impact upon patient care. The objectives of this review are as follows: (a) to establish overcrowding as a threat to patient outcomes, person-centered care, and public safety in the ED; (b) to describe scenarios in which point-of-care testing (POCT) has been found to ameliorate factors thought to contribute to overcrowding; and (c) to discuss how POCT can be used directly, and indirectly, to expedite patient care and improve outcomes. Various studies have shown that overcrowding in the ED has profound effects on operational efficiency and patient care. Several reports have quantified overcrowding in the ED and have described a relationship between heightened periods of overcrowding and delays in treatment, increased incidence of adverse events, and an even greater probability of mortality. In certain scenarios, POCT has been found to increase the number of patients discharged in a timely manner, expedite triage of urgent but non-emergency patients, and decrease delays to treatment initiation. This review concludes that POCT, when used effectively, may alleviate the negative impacts of overcrowding on the safety, effectiveness, and person-centeredness of care in the ED.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.