For example, various kinds of urine test strips have been available for decades, but portable ultrasonography did not reach the stage of being advanced, affordable, and widespread until the 2000s and 2010s.

A recent survey in five countries (Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and the US) indicates that general practitioners / family doctors would like to use more POCTs.

This increases the likelihood that the patient, physician, and care team will receive the results quicker, which allows for better immediate clinical management decisions to be made.

POCT is often accomplished through the use of transportable, portable, and handheld instruments (e.g., blood glucose meter, nerve conduction study device) and test kits (e.g., CRP, HBA1C, Homocystein, HIV salivary assay, etc.).

[12] These tests require only a single drop of whole blood, urine or saliva, and they can be performed and interpreted by any general physician within minutes.

Recently, a portable medical diagnostic device called "BioPoC" has been reported which employs free-standing enzyme-modified responsive polymer membrane-based biosensors and a newly devised low-cost transduction principle for the detection of H. pylori and urea.

[13] During the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid development of POCT occurred, aiming to improve the turnaround time and ease of use compared to the gold standard lab-based PCR test.

[16] Saliva in particular may offer sufficiently high detection rates in tandem with a non-invasive and user friendly procedure, although reliability requires improvement.

The coupling of POCT devices and electronic medical records enable test results to be shared instantly with care providers.

[23][24] A reduction in morbidity and mortality has been associated with such rapid turn around times from a study using the i-STAT to analyze blood lactate levels after congenital heart surgery.

At home or POCT tests, providing results within minutes of being administered, would allow for appropriate measures and rapid decisions about dental patients' care process.

[34] In vitro diagnostic (IVD) products use the same categorization as medical devices (Class I, II, and III) to assure safety and effectiveness.

[41] CLIAC is made up of experts in many specialties throughout clinical and anatomic pathology that provide guidance and advice on general issues within laboratory science.