Background: Use of point-of-care testing (POCT) in primary care has
increased. There is a need for high-quality field evaluation of POCT before
deployment can be considered.
Method: A POCT system for C-reactive protein was evaluated in a routine
general practice setting. The standard laboratory method was a dry slide method based
in a routine hospital laboratory.
Results: Scatterplots for both venous and capillary blood POCT system
results versus the standard laboratory assay produced correlation coefficients of
greater than 0·96. Bland-Altman plots indicated that 95% of venous and capillary POCT
results fell within ±10 mg/L of the mean value with no clinically significant
difference from laboratory results.
Conclusions: The POCT system performed reliably in a routine general
practice setting with satisfactory performance against an accepted laboratory
method.
