scholarly journals Public Health Consensus and Point-of-Care Multiplex Diagnostics for Shipboard Outbreak Control

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-345
Author(s):  
Erik J. Reaves ◽  
Daniel G. Bausch
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Outbreak Control ◽  
Multiplex Diagnostics

“PHONE-CONNECT” - A Pilot Program Prescribing Phones to Address Digital Health Equity Needs in the COVID-19 Era (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gill Kazevman ◽  
Marck Mercado ◽  
Jennifer Hulme ◽  
Andrea Somers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Health Care Intervention ◽  
Care Intervention

UNSTRUCTURED Vulnerable populations have been identified as having higher infection rates and poorer COVID-19 related outcomes, likely due to their inability to readily access primary care, follow public health directives and adhere to self-isolation guidelines. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many health care services have adopted new digital solutions, relying on phone and internet connectivity. Yet, persons who are digitally inaccessible, such as those struggling with poverty or homelessness, are often unable to utilize these services. In response to this newly highlighted social disparity known as “digital health inequity”, emergency physicians at the University Health Network, Toronto, initiated a program called “PHONE CONNECT”. This novel approach attempts to improve patients’ access to health care, information and social services, as well as improve their ability to adhere to public health directives (social isolation and contact tracing). While similar programs addressing the same emerging issues have been recently described in the media, this is the first time phones are provided as a health care intervention in an emergency department. This innovative ED point-of-care intervention may have a significant impact on improving the health outcomes for vulnerable people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and even beyond it.

scholarly journals Aligning diagnostics to the point-of-care: lessons for innovators, evaluators and decision-makers from tuberculosis and HIV

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. e003457
Author(s):  
Nora Engel ◽  
Petra F G Wolffs
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Evaluation Procedures ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Intended Use ◽  
Global Stakeholders

Diagnostics, including those that work at point-of-care, are an essential part of successful public health responses to infectious diseases and pandemics. Yet, they are not always used or fit intended use settings. This paper reports on key insights from a qualitative study on how those engaged with developing and implementing new point-of-care (POC) diagnostics for tuberculosis (TB) and HIV ensure these technologies work at POC. Ethnographic fieldwork between 2015 and 2017 consisting of 53 semistructured interviews with global stakeholders and visits to workshops, companies, and conferences was combined with 15 semistructured interviews with stakeholders in India including providers, decision-makers, scientists and developers and visits to companies, clinics and laboratories. Our results show how developers and implementer of HIV and TB POC diagnostics aim to know and align their diagnostics to elements in more settings than just intended use, but also the setting of the developer, the global intermediaries, the bug/disease and the competitor. Actors and elements across these five settings define what a good diagnostic is, yet their needs might conflict or change and they are difficult to access. Aligning diagnostics to the POC requires continuous needs assessment throughout development and implementation phases as well as substantive, ongoing investment in relationships with users. The flexibility required for such continuous realigning and iteration clashes with established evaluation procedures and business models in global health and risks favouring certain products over others. The paper concludes with suggestions to strengthen this alignment work and applies this framework to research needs in the wake of COVID-19.

SERS Substrate Fabrication for Biochemical Sensing: towards Point-of-Care Diagnostics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojia Liu ◽  
Jiuchuan Guo ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Shikun Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Sers Substrate ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Biochemical Sensing ◽  
Point Of Care Diagnostics ◽  
Increasing Demand

Rapid technology development and economic growth have brought attention to public health issues, such as food safety and environmental pollution, which creates an ever-increasing demand for fast and portable sensing...

scholarly journals Novel Toilet Paper–Based Point-Of-Care Test for the Rapid Detection of Fecal Occult Blood: Instrument Validation Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yao Wang ◽  
Ting-Wei Lin ◽  
Sherry Yueh-Hsia Chiu ◽  
Wan-Ying Lin ◽  
Song-Bin Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Cancer Screening ◽  
Colorectal Cancer Screening ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Occult Blood ◽  
Fecal Occult Blood ◽  
Point Of Care Test ◽  
Fecal Occult ◽  
Toilet Paper

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer screening by fecal occult blood testing has been an important public health test and shown to reduce colorectal cancer–related mortality. However, the low participation rate in colorectal cancer screening by the general public remains a problematic public health issue. This fact could be attributed to the complex and unpleasant operation of the screening tool. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to validate a novel toilet paper–based point-of-care test (ie, JustWipe) as a public health instrument to detect fecal occult blood and provide detailed results from the evaluation of the analytic characteristics in the clinical validation. METHODS The mechanism of fecal specimen collection by the toilet-paper device was verified with repeatability and reproducibility tests. We also evaluated the analytical characteristics of the test reagents. For clinical validation, we conducted comparisons between JustWipe and other fecal occult blood tests. The first comparison was between JustWipe and typical fecal occult blood testing in a central laboratory setting with 70 fecal specimens from the hospital. For the second comparison, a total of 58 volunteers were recruited, and JustWipe was compared with the commercially available Hemoccult SENSA in a point-of-care setting. RESULTS Adequate amounts of fecal specimens were collected using the toilet-paper device with small day-to-day and person-to-person variations. The limit of detection of the test reagent was evaluated to be 3.75 µg of hemoglobin per milliliter of reagent. Moreover, the test reagent also showed high repeatability (100%) on different days and high reproducibility (>96%) among different users. The overall agreement between JustWipe and a typical fecal occult blood test in a central laboratory setting was 82.9%. In the setting of point-of-care tests, the overall agreement between JustWipe and Hemoccult SENSA was 89.7%. Moreover, the usability questionnaire showed that the novel test tool had high scores in operation friendliness (87.3/100), ease of reading results (97.4/100), and information usefulness (96.1/100). CONCLUSIONS We developed and validated a toilet paper–based fecal occult blood test for use as a point-of-care test for the rapid (in 60 seconds) and easy testing of fecal occult blood. These favorable characteristics render it a promising tool for colorectal cancer screening as a public health instrument.

scholarly journals Patterns of Sharps Handling and Disposal Among Insulin-Using Patients With Diabetes Mellitus

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-66
Author(s):  
Jordan M. Montoya ◽  
Bithika M. Thompson ◽  
Mary E. Boyle ◽  
Melinda E. Leighton ◽  
Curtiss B. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Insulin Pump ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Health Hazard ◽  
Public Health Campaign ◽  
Health Campaign ◽  
Continuous Glucose Monitor ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Patients With Diabetes

Background: The objective of this study was to assess disposal patterns for “sharps” among a cohort of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) receiving insulin therapy. Method: A convenience sample of inpatients and outpatients was surveyed about how they disposed of sharps, how often they reused lancets and needles, and what education they had received about proper disposal. Safe disposal was defined as discarding sharps into a formal sharps or sealable container; otherwise, disposal was categorized as unsafe. Results: Of 150 respondents, 56% were men and 75% were white. The mean (SD) age was 56 (15) years; duration of DM, 20 (13) years; and hemoglobin A1c, 8.1% (2.0%). Half the respondents reused a lancet two or more times, and 21% reused an insulin needle two or more times. Thirty-eight percent of respondents discarded lancets unsafely, and 33% discarded insulin needles unsafely, typically by throwing these items into household trash. Most respondents (75%) discarded insulin pens, vials, cartridges, insulin pump supplies, and continuous glucose monitor sensors into household trash. Most (64%) indicated that they had not received education on safe sharps-disposal practices, and 84% had never visited their municipal website for information on medical waste disposal. Conclusion: Approximately one-third of patients unsafely disposed of sharps. Unsafe disposal could cause millions of sharps to appear in the municipal solid waste stream, thereby posing a substantial public health hazard. Point-of-care patient education is important, but a broader public health campaign may be required.

scholarly journals Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Acute HIV Infection: An Important Public Health Priority

2012 ◽  
Vol 206 (12) ◽  
pp. 1949-1950 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. E. Rosenberg ◽  
G. Kamanga ◽  
S. Phiri ◽  
D. Nsona ◽  
A. Pettifor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Acute Hiv Infection ◽  
Important Public Health ◽  
Public Health Priority ◽  
Health Priority ◽  
Point Of Care Diagnostics ◽  
Acute Hiv
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