Table 6.

Comparison of the mean total time patients spent in the emergency department, length of stay in hospital, number of admissions, and mortality for patients whose samples were allocated to point of care testing or to laboratory testing

	Point of care testing			Laboratory testing			Point of care v laboratory testing
	No of patients*	Mean (95% CI) or No (%)		No of patients	Mean (95% CI) or No (%)		Difference (95% CI)	P value
Mean (95% CI) time spent in emergency department (min)	859	188 (181 to 194)		868	193 (186 to 200)		5 (−5 to 15)	0.30
Mean (95% CI) length of stay in hospital (days)†	730	7.8 (6.9 to 8.6)		720	8.3 (7.5 to 9.1)		0.5 (−1 to 2)	0.37
No (%) admissions	860	733 (85.2)		868	725 (83.5)		1.7 (−1.7 to 5.1)	0.33
No (%) deaths‡	859	55 (6.4)		867	48 (5.5)		0.9 (−1.4 to 3.1)	0.45

^*One patient discharged himself before test results became available.  

^†Information on length of stay in hospital was not available for three point of care patients and three patients allocated to laboratory testing who were transferred to other hospitals. Information was missing from the hospital information system for two additional patients allocated to laboratory testing.  

^‡Information was not available for one point of care patient and one patient allocated to laboratory testing because they were transferred to other hospitals.