How portable diagnostic readers are changing the future for patient care

There are numerous ways to provide quality diagnosis and preventative care. One of them is by investing in portable scanners, adopting huge benefits for improved healthcare procedures. 

What is a portable diagnostic reader?

Usually a handheld device, measuring health parameters and helping to diagnose a patient using smart algorithms from a chosen assay. At AgPlus, The Agilis Reader works in conjunction with an assay, delivering rapid, ultra-sensitive results. It can be integrated into existing healthcare workflows with ease, giving healthcare professionals fast, accurate results. 

How does this change the future of patient care?

Considering the amount of equipment a GP should have in their armoury in modern healthcare situations, having a portable solution could save time, cost and provide a better patient-led service. 

This video from Medical Futurist highlights making the patients the point of care, perfectly.

https://youtu.be/g4uyb6UP9ok

Here, we highlight our own views on the future of patient care with portable diagnostic readers:

  • Patient safety

There are many diagnostic imaging machines that can have harmful effects on a patient. A well known imaging side effect is exposure to radiation through an X Ray or CT scan potentially leading to the patient becoming unwell and having a low resistance to infection. Using a portable scanner increases patient safety by lowering the risk of adverse health effects. 

  • Rapid, quality diagnosis

Using a portable diagnostic reader system can produce instant results. The Agilis Reader provides full quantitative analysis from a single sample, for example. The results are produced instantly, giving healthcare professionals more confidence to diagnose and putting the patient at ease with next steps for treatments. 

  • Affordable

Larger machines used for diagnose can cost the healthcare system a great deal of money. Not to mention the constant referrals of patients between relevant diagnostic departments in a healthcare setting. Portability offers an affordable solution, can be brought to the patient, reducing the need for referrals and additional cost for machinery. 

  • Mobility

Although it might seem fairly obvious, the portability of diagnostic point of care testing has endless benefits on the community. The delivery of the right care in the right place at the right time. 

The National Centre for Biotechnology shares an excellent article from C. Lee Ventola highlighting the numerous benefits that mobile devices have for healthcare professionals. Whilst it focuses on mobile apps and devices, the same can be said for portable medical devices: “Numerous apps are now available to assist HCPs with many important tasks, such as: information and time management; health record maintenance and access; communications and consulting; reference and information gathering; patient management and monitoring; clinical decision-making; and medical education and training. Mobile devices and apps provide many benefits for HCPs, perhaps most significantly increased access to point-of-care tools, which has been shown to support better clinical decision-making and improved patient outcomes.”

If you’re interested to learn more about The Agilis Reader, how our technology works or how we can support assay development for a fully quantitative point of care testing system, get in touch with one of our experts today.