The Trial assessed satisfaction in two ways: participants’ attitudes; and satisfaction with PoCT.
The method of analysis for participants’ attitudes used statements from the Baseline and Satisfaction Questionnaires, as measured by the Visual Analogue Score (VAS). Between and within group analysis of attitudes was undertaken for GPs and patients. The analysis for participants’ satisfaction used statements from the Satisfaction Questionnaire, as measured by the VAS. For all statements analysis was performed using a mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Key Findings
- from baseline, intervention GPs reported a greater change in attitudes to all statements compared to the control GPs, with a majority of the statements (5 out of 9) reaching statistical significance (p<0.05). In particular, intervention GPs agreed more strongly than control GPs that PoCT would help with disease management, would not interrupt patient flow or add time to the consultation
- for all attitude statements, intervention patients showed a higher level of agreement compared to control patients, although for only one statement did the difference reach statistical significance (p<0.0001)
- for Device Operators, there was no significant change in attitudes to PoCT from the commencement to the end of the Trial, except in the area of quality control, which they found more time-consuming (p=0.0012)
- Pathology providers’ attitudes did not alter by the end of the Trial and they were non-committal in their views about the analytical quality of PoCT or the availability of PoCT in general practiceintervention GPs on average were more satisfied with PoCT compared to control GPs, particularly for the usefulness of clinical practice (p=0.0097) and confidence in PoCT results (p=0.0022)
- for all statements measuring patient satisfaction, the intervention group showed a greater level of satisfaction compared to the control group, with all but one statement reaching statistical significance (p<0.05)
- Device Operators indicated high levels of satisfaction with PoCT
- Pathology Providers indicated low levels of satisfaction with PoCT.
Key Conclusion
- results supported patient, GP and Device Operator satisfaction and acceptability of PoCT in a general practice setting.