Sevilla, (EFE).- The Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs integrates new technology into primary care emergency points to perform clinical analysis laboratory tests – blood and urine samples – with immediate diagnosis.
This is ‘Point of Care Testing’ (POCT), a project of the Andalusian Plan of Laboratories, in collaboration with the Andalusian Plan of Emergencies and Emergencies, whose objective is to optimize the ability to solve its emergency services as well as the efficiency and quality of health care, the council said in a statement.
Among the services included are: hematology, biochemistry, cardiac markers, gasometry and urinalysis, and its indication is carried out in emergencies of intermediate severity, as well as in patients included in the Heart Attack Code .
This system is currently undergoing evaluation of tests and results through a pilot project in several community centers, both in hospital emergencies -evaluating the improvement in response time in this area and accelerating thus waiting for patients- and in primary care centers, providing them with a greater ability to resolve. in the emergency room and adapt the referrals to the hospital.
Accessibility, quality and precision
The objective of the Laboratory Plan is to gradually continue the extension of this technology, once the overall assessment and impact of its benefits, its objective and its project have been carried out, coordinated in turn with the Emergency Plan Sanitary.
According to the director of the Plan Laboratory, Cristóbal Avivar, “this system can offer multiple advantages since it allows greater accessibility, quality of care and precision in immediate diagnosis”.
These teams make it possible to obtain results in a few minutes and require a minimum of manipulation by the professional.
The implementation of this new system is one of the strategic lines of the Laboratory Plan which pursues a different organizational model to meet the needs of patients and users with greater efficiency.
The POCT project aims to improve diagnostic capacity in primary care centers, as is already done, for example, with diabetes and, more specifically, with capillary glucose studies or with oral anticoagulation treatments.
More than 70% of people over 65 have a chronic disease and three out of four emergency room visits are made by these people. ECE
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