World Patient Safety Day is an annual global awareness campaign, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), that emphasises the importance of improving healthcare practices to prevent harm to patients.
World Patient Safety Day 2024
The theme of World Patient Safety Day 2024 is “improving diagnosis for patient safety”, with the slogan: “Get it right, make it safe!”.
The campaign this year focuses on the risks associated with diagnostic errors and stresses the critical importance of accurate and timely diagnosis.
In this short article, we’ll discuss the need for reliable diagnoses, the obstacles in ensuring diagnostic safety, and the role of our Q-POC™ PCR testing platform as a rapid diagnostic tool for the detection of infectious diseases at the point-of-care.
The challenges of diagnostic errors
Diagnostic errors present a significant challenge in the healthcare sector, accounting for 16% of preventable harm across health systems.
Most adults will experience at least one diagnostic error during their lifetime, which can result in delayed, inaccurate, or overlooked diagnoses.
Errors at any step of the diagnostic testing pathway have the potential to affect patient safety. For example, research has shown that when considering laboratory testing, approximately two thirds (62 – 68%) of errors arise in the pre-analytical phase, such as during test ordering, sample collection, sample labelling, and sample transport. Errors during the post-analytical phase, such as reporting and interpretation of results make up 19 – 23% of cases, with only 13 – 15% errors occurring during sample processing (analytical phase).
How Q-POC™ supports diagnostic safety
At QuantuMDx, our Q-POC multiplex PCR diagnostic platform features a user-friendly design and simplified workflow to reduce the risk of user error. By streamlining or automating the testing process, from sample collection to result analysis, the Q-POC platform minimises complexity and removes processing steps that are vulnerable to mistakes, supporting healthcare professionals to deliver reliable, actionable results.
The Q-POC is also a closed system, using sealed cassettes that contain all the necessary reagents and internal controls to complete a test safely. This reduces the risk of contamination, protecting both the patient and the healthcare provider.
With a focus on safety at every stage of testing, we prioritise accurate diagnoses of infectious diseases at the point-of-care, enabling appropriate patient management near to the patient consultation.
Rapid results & accurate interpretation
By compressing an entire molecular diagnostics lab into its compact build, Q-POC enables rapid testing right at the point-of-care. This helps prevent diagnosis delays from lost or inappropriately stored samples, promotes prompt action from healthcare providers, and reduces the risk of missed or misplaced results that could lead to diagnostic errors. Furthermore, the Q-POC platform’s integrated design supports simple analyses of test results, reducing the possibility of misinterpretation or miscommunication.
With just 3 minutes of hands-on-time and results available within 35 minutes, the Q-POC delivers rapid, actionable results – without the delay often associated with centralised laboratory testing.
The Q-POC platform supports diagnostic safety and prioritises patients at the Point of Care, in line with our commitment to excellence.
If you would like to learn more about how our Q-POC platform supports healthcare workers – in line with the goals of World Patient Safety Day 2024 – get in touch with us today and discover the difference our technology can make.
