Table 2.

Summary of the facilitators and barriers to use of point of care tests (POCT) in family medicine clinics

Themes	Facilitators	Barriers
1. Impact on clinical decision-making	- Faster decision-making - Earlier triaging of possible serious illness - Improved confidence in treatment decisions (e.g. antibiotics)	- Immediate results not helpful in some situations (e.g., monitoring of chronic conditions) - Over-reliance undermining physician clinical skills - Increase in unnecessary testing
2. Accuracy concerns	- Improved ‘rule out’ value when used with clinical features	- Less accurate than laboratory tests - Positive test results often misleading
3. Impact of POCT on staff and clinic workflow	- Reduced clinic difficulties with patient follow-up for laboratory tests between office visits - More POCT may alleviate pressure on under-staffed laboratories	- Concerns increased testing volume may extend patient visits/overwhelm providers - Insufficient healthcare personnel within clinics to manage additional testing - Risk of error in reporting results for tests without EMR interface
4. Impact on perceived patient experience and patient-physician relationship	- Improved patient-provider communication - Patient awareness of work involved in making a diagnosis, making providers feel more valued - Improved patient understanding and acceptance of provider treatment decisions (e.g., antibiotics) - Perceived greater acceptability of fingerstick blood testing by patients and clinic
5. Influence of cost, regulation and quality control		- Perceived expense compared to laboratory tests - Uncertainty about reimbursement rates from insurers and loss of clinic revenue - Lack of laboratory trust in giving clinics responsibility for quality control processes - Lack of clinic autonomy to adopt new tests