HOPE Centre in South Africa Earns High Marks from Diabetes Journal

The results of a research study focusing on point-of-care testing (POCT) were published in Primary Care Diabetes, a journal that publishes original research articles and high quality reviews in the fields of clinical care, diabetes education, nutrition, health services, psychosocial research and epidemiology in a primary-care setting.

The study, “Point-of-care testing improves diabetes management in a primary care clinic in South Africa,” describes the introduction of the Analytical and Clinical Excellence (ACE) Point-of-Care Testing Program in the urban primary care diabetes clinic located in Zandspruit, South Africa – The HOPE Centre – which is run by Project HOPE.

Point-of-care testing operators at the HOPE clinic completed training in the principles of POCT and were awarded competency certification under a web-based ACE training program developed and delivered by the Flinders University. A total of 332 patients presenting at the HOPE Centre clinic had 595 HbA1c tests (a blood test routinely performed in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus) performed by POCT during the study.

“In summary,” according to study results, “the introduction of POCT to the Project HOPE clinic has promoted change in clinical practice by facilitating greater accessibility to HbA1c testing that is so critically needed and that has resulted in a clinically significant improvement in the glycaemic control of diabetes patients using this service.”

Read Point-of-care testing improves diabetes management in a primary care clinic in South Africa.