The industry’s discourse has changed towards personalized and patient-centered healthcare models.
As the landscape of public health changes, systemic inequities that have been a long-standing issue are coming to the forefront, highlighting the need for expanding access to top-quality, real-time healthcare. It is time to consider whether the systems and methods we have used for years benefit patients and healthcare professionals. How do we create innovative and more efficient solutions if they don’t?
The industry’s discourse has changed towards personalized and patient-centered healthcare models. This shift is evident in the area of diagnostic tests at home. The COVID-19 tests at home can open the doors to a flourishing at-home diagnostic market in reproductive health, nutrition health, and other areas and patients wanting to play a more active role in their personal health. Naturally, this raised concerns about the need for remote diagnostic testing to be included in the next stage of the health revolution through telemedicine.
The argument for at-home blood tests
Research increasingly indicates that the widespread use of at-home tests, including blood tests, is beneficial and can provide significant and long-lasting benefits to healthcare providers, patients, and institutions.
Many find the traditional procedure of blood draws in a clinic difficult and unattainable. It is often a time-consuming process that requires taking time off from childcare or work and traveling out of the neighborhood, sitting in a waiting area or waiting in a long line, feeling the discomfort of needle insertion, and waiting days or weeks for results.
With a new period of technological and scientific advances, we have a unique opportunity to enhance the experience of blood tests for patients into one of comfort and ease that ultimately simplify the collection of vital health information, reduce the workload of doctors, and provide new research opportunities for clinical researchers. The findings showed the ease of self-administration (without the assistance of a physician or special training) as well as a painless experience as well as a 99.9 percent success rate in the lab’s processing. In contrast to traditional blood sampling that requires a physician’s intervention, the samples collected by the self-administer blood collection device were kept at temperatures of room temperature for up to 28 days with cold-chain free-storage technology, which may be the ideal solution for patients living in remote locations or for participants in multi-site clinical research.
Making the most of precision and wellbeing
The blood test has the capacity to reveal a myriad of powerful diagnostics regarding the present and future state of health. Researchers are only scratching the surface in this field of study. Making blood tests at home a common practice can open the way for greater accuracy and preventive health. This practice can give patients with real-time personalized information about their general health condition, the effectiveness of their medication, and the risk of developing certain diseases or health issues, such as being aware of changes in their health as they get older. Instead of waiting until their annual check-up or until a physician is able to bring it up or delaying it completely, routine tests for blood could allow patients to take their health into their own hands.
Making this technology practical will require ongoing research into diagnostic capabilities, as well as automated technology to evaluate and test these new diagnostics, as well as studies to evaluate their effectiveness.