The last 2 decades have seen substantial efforts to develop near-patient testing strategies. This led to major technological advancements in the critical point-of-care testing (CPOCT) field, as the global market seeks quick and accurate results at patients’ bedsides. An online international symposium AACC is hosting on October 2, 2020 will prep clinical lab professionals on how to apply these new and emerging innovations to provide value based healthcare.

Technologies highlighted at this conference “have shown great feasibility and promise to deliver the results that are strictly required for POC testing, since they can miniaturize and integrate most of the functional modules used in central laboratories into a small chip,” the conference’s planning committee chair, L.V. Rao, PhD, FADLM, told CLN Stat. Rao is executive science director and chief scientific officer at Quest Diagnostics MA, and a pathology professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School.

The symposium was originally scheduled as a 2-day conference in Montreal, Canada, covering existing and emerging technologies over four sessions, including IT-based advances and regulatory challenges. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers switched to a new virtual, one-day online symposium. Topics will include upcoming state of the art technologies in POCT, infectious diseases, chronic disease management, and personalized and value-based care. One speaker plans to discuss COVID-19 POC test development as part of the infectious diseases presentation.

“We’re hoping to prepare audiences for an era of change and challenge,” explained Rao.

The virtual conference will deploy AACC’s learning management system  platforms to deliver online presentations. All speaker presentations will be prerecorded several weeks beforehand, said Rao. A live Q&A with speakers and moderators will take place at the end of each session. Audience members can participate by asking or typing in questions, to get real-time answers.

All the presentations and Q&A will be available on demand for up to a year, at a specified site for the registered audience.

After attending this symposium participants will be able to:

  • Understand emerging state-of-the-art technologies in POCT and their significant challenges.
  • Identify future roles for these upcoming technologies in various healthcare settings such as in infectious diseases and chronic disease diagnosis and management.
  • Recognize the role of precision medicine, artificial intelligence, and the role of labs in supporting value-based healthcare, and evidence supporting their clinical utility in POC settings.

The Latest Point-of-Care Technologies: Preparing for an Era of Change conference takes place October 2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is currently being reviewed for up to 6 ACCENT credit hours.