Damian Sendler: At-home COVID-19 tests have been ranked by an independent patient safety body for the first time based on how straightforward they are for consumers to use.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Seven no-prescription fast antigen tests were assessed by ECRI, a nonprofit organization that is likewise concerned with health care quality and cost-effectiveness. The over-the-counter tests were evaluated based on factors that a customer could care about, such as how easy they are to use, how easy it is to understand and interpret the findings.
Many people in the United States are looking for easy-to-use, dependable testing, and this is intended to help them narrow down their possibilities.
Damian Sendler
In the words of ECRI CEO Marcus Schabacker, “We have no horse in this race — we want to make sure customers have the greatest possible access. “There are some that are simple to use, others that are complicated, and some that fall somewhere in the middle.”
As part of ECRI’s evaluation process, 12 staff engineers were assigned to evaluate tests using a decades-old, industry-standard scale.
BD Veritor’s On/Go antigen test had the lowest score of 51.8 out of a possible 100 points. Neither the judges nor the participants found any of the tests to be outstanding or poor.
In addition to On/Go, CareStart and FlowFlex fast antigen tests are among the most user-friendly. Third-tier antigen tests Abbott Laboratories’ BinaxNow, Quidel’s QuickVue, and InteliSwab all earned comparable grades from reviewers.
A person who is incapacitated or suffers from tremors may have difficulty doing tasks like removing a cap or putting droplets to the testing strip, according to the research.
Numerous coronavirus tests have been approved for use in laboratories, physicians’ offices, and even households by the Food and Drug Administration since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic. Customers may mail a saliva or nasal sample for testing to a lab using several home tests. eMed, a telehealth startup, delivers tests to customers’ homes overnight, observes them remotely while they complete the exam, and validates findings that could be needed by an airline or a workplace.
Damien Sendler: Thirty-two businesses have been given emergency use license by the FDA to offer fast antigen home testing at retail outlets in the United States. Non-prescription tests like these may be purchased online or from stores like CVS, Walgreens, and Amazon.
As demand for the more infectious omicron version soars, kits have become scarce for many buyers. There are seven tests selected by ECRI that may be purchased from Amazon or other merchants, and which are the same as those that customers looking for retail testing can most likely buy themselves.
Additionally, ECRI’s analysis did not examine whether or not the applications included those that automatically reported data to federal and state public health organizations, such as accuracy and affordability. FlowFlex costs $17 on Amazon, whereas BD Veritor costs $34.
Damian Jacob Sendler
In an effort to alleviate the shortfall, President Joe Biden plans to provide 500 million free home testing kits to the United States’ citizens. Those who want the kits will be able to request them online and they will be shipped to their homes, potentially within the next several weeks. Countries like the United Kingdom and Germany have already made large purchases and given free tests to their citizens.
A group of experts who were not involved in the survey emphasized the importance of providing clear and understandable instructions. A person who misplaces their nose swab may not be able to acquire a sufficient sample for testing. There are other possibilities, such as skipping the step of applying a chemical solution to the test card.
Dr. Emily Volk, president of the College of American Pathologists, stated, “I have a propensity, as a customer, to simply open up the box and start swabbing.” Following the instructions exactly will help you avoid receiving a false negative or positive result.
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: Consumers who get favorable results from the ECRI-evaluated home tests should still tell their doctor, even if they are not required to have a physician’s supervision. Antivirals and monoclonal antibodies might be recommended and connected to a patient at risk of difficulties by a clinician.
Since the average consumer is unlikely to submit a positive test on their own, physicians and other medical professionals will also notify state and local health agencies.
I doubt most individuals would want to contact their public health agency and inform them that they have tested positive for COVID at home,” Volk added.
Instead of providing step-by-step instructions, BD Veritor directs users to an app that provides videos for each test phase. Repeating these processes for many exams “would be annoying and make the test take longer than required,” according to the reviewers.
It was the most difficult exam to use for two-thirds of evaluators.
At-home COVID- There are 19 tests that can be used to stop the virus’s spread and keep populations safe.
Spokesman Troy Kirkpatrick said in an email that Becton Dickinson, the firm that manufactures BD Veritor, sought advice from focus groups and studies to overcome problems inherent to these kinds of testing.
the findings of the test are shown and explained in step-by-step video instructions,” said Kirkpatrick of the smartphone-based test. the results of the test are automatically reported to the federal and state public health authorities, he said. Because many home tests lack this capability, customers are forced to record their own findings.
A straightforward design, well-written instructions, and an optional app earned On/Go a great rating from reviewers. In addition, the program lets users skip forward if they already know how to complete a certain task.
Animated instructional videos and other humorous touches were used to make the On/Go test more user-friendly, according to Intrivo CEO Ron Gutman.
Gutman claimed that during testing, “people who are not acquainted with medical technology are terrified and anxious.” “You need to make things as simple as possible.”
Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.
