Table 1.

Characteristics of patients whose blood samples were allocated to point of care testing or to testing by the hospital’s central laboratory. Values are numbers of patients (percentages) unless indicated otherwise

	Point of care testing (n=860)	Laboratory testing (n=868)
Mean (interquartile range) age (years)	55 (34-73)	57 (36-74)
Men	465 (54)	463 (53)
Patients referred to emergency by general practitioners	451 (52)	428 (49)
Grade of attending doctor:
House officer	98 (11)	89 (10)
Senior house officer	661 (77)	683 (79)
Other	101 (12)	96 (11)
Presenting complaint:
Shortness of breath	118 (14)	99 (11)
Abdominal pain	139 (16)	139 (16)
Chest pain	137 (16)	142 (16)
Collapse	89 (10)	103 (12)
Feeling unwell	71 (8)	72 (8)
Overdose	53 (6)	57 (7)
Trauma	44 (5)	52 (6)
Gastrointestinal bleeding	42 (5)	29 (3)
Other	167 (19)	175 (20)