Influenzasneltests voor de huisartsenpraktijk en SEH

• There are various point-of-care tests (POCT) available that allow the diagnosis of influenza within circa 30 minutes.
• POCTs that utilise antigen detection are user-friendly, but do have analytical accuracy limitations.
• POCTs based on PCR-technique are accurate, but rely on direct support from a medical laboratory; therefore, these tests can only be deployed in hospitals.
• There is limited direct evidence for a clinical effectiveness of the influenza POCT in the emergency department (ED) and there is a lack of proof concerning the clinical effectiveness of the influenza POCT in a GP practice setting.
• Influenza POCTs can reduce patients’ length-of-stay in the ED and improve patient flow, provided there is capacity to accommodate this.
• Based on current available literature, it is warranted to deploy the PCR-based influenza POCT in an ED setting.
• However, presently the implementation of the influenza POCT in GP practices cannot be justified.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.