Paper Info
Title
Can point-of-care testing shorten hospitalization length of stay? An exploratory investigation of infectious agents using regression modelling.
Abstract
This retrospective study investigates the potential benefits from the introduction of point-of-care tests for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases. We analysed a sample of 441 hospitalized patients who had received a final diagnosis related to 18 pathogenic agents. These pathogens were mostly detected by standard tests but were also detectable by point-of-care testing. The length of hospital stay was partitioned into pre- and post-laboratory diagnosis stages. Regression analysis and elementary queueing theory were applied to estimate the impact of quick diagnosis on the mean length of stay and the utilization of healthcare resources. The analysis suggests that eliminating the pre-diagnosis times through point-of-care testing could shorten the mean length of hospital stay for infectious diseases by up to 34per cent and result in an equal reduction in bed occupancy and other resources. Regression and other more sophisticated models can aid the financing decision-making of pilot point-of-care laboratories in healthcare systems.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1177/1460458218796612
HEALTH INFORMATICS JOURNAL
Keywords
Field
DocType
early detection of disease,hospital length of stay,infectious diseases,point-of-care testing,regression modelling
Point-of-care testing,Nursing,Regression,Medical emergency,Medicine
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
25.0
4.0
1460-4582
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Eliona Gkika100.34
Anna Psaroulaki200.34
Yannis Tselentis300.34
Emmanouil Angelakis400.34
Vassilis S. Kouikoglou5637.46