A scoping review of point-of-care blood testing to assess utility in ambulatory general surgery.

INTRODUCTION Ambulatory care is a national priority in the UK. Blood results play a crucial role in safe ambulatory management, but create significant time delays. Point-of-care blood testing (POCBT) could improve delivery of effective ambulatory care in General Surgery (GS). This scoping review summarises published literature on use of POCBT in hospital settings.

Methods

Systematic searches (MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare and CINAHL, from inception to January 2025) identified published studies reporting on POCBT in adult hospital settings. Searches were limited to common blood tests used for emergency GS decision-making. Abstracts and full texts were screened independently by two authors against pre-agreed eligibility criteria. Data extraction included general study and participant characteristics, details of point-of-care devices used, and outcomes, grouped into: Reliability and Accuracy, Clinical and Patient Impact, Staff Impact, and Financial Impact.

Findings

Thirty-five full-text papers were included, reporting on 56,160 patients. Most were cross-sectional studies (n=27) and set in Emergency Departments (n=15). Twenty-nine different analysers were reported across the studies; 24 studies reported on accuracy of POCBT, with 16 demonstrating good levels of concordance with central laboratory results. Of 15 studies reporting Clinical/Patient Impact outcomes, 7 described time savings with POCBT (n=7). Although four studies reported high staff satisfaction with POCBT, one suggested increased staff workload. All three studies reporting Financial Impact (n=3) identified a positive impact of POCBT on overall cost savings.

Conclusions

POCBT could deliver timely, reliable blood results and be of benefit in ambulatory GS settings. A prospective pilot study may be the next appropriate step.