COMMUNITY pharmacies are well suited to deliver a wide range of point-of-care tests, according to a paper published in Research in Social & Administrative Pharmacy.
In the future this will allow easier access to various screening and diagnostic tests for patients, the authors concluded, after examining a number of interventional studies that reported on the effectiveness of certain point-of-care tests and accuracy studies investigating analytical quality.
Eleven community pharmacy studies were identified focusing on blood glucose, cholesterol, creatinine, uric acid, liver enzymes, international normalized ratio (INR)for anticoagulation therapy, bone mineral density for osteoporosis, forced expiratory volume for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and infection with human immunodeficiency virus.
The researchers wrote that the included studies showed point-of-care tests conducted and analysed in community pharmacies not only had satisfactory analytical quality but it was also shown that the interventions applying these tests were effective overall.
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