point of care

noun

variants or less commonly point-of-care

plural points of care also points-of-care

: a site where medical care is received

Antigen testing … is cheaper and faster than standard testing, and it can happen at points of care—long-term-care facilities, prisons, schools, and doctors' offices.

—Whet Moser

… truly universal [health insurance] systems offer healthcare free (or nearly free) at the point of care.

—A. W. Gaffney

… this ongoing trend is also changing the way that patient testing is viewed—and especially the way that healthcare providers view testing performed at the point-of-care …

—Kim Futrell

—often used especially in hyphenated form before another noun

point-of-care testing

Shifts toward point-of-care coronavirus tests, which are fast and simple enough to perform without the need for specialized equipment, could ease some of the burden on laboratories.

—Katherine J. Wu

… patients with prolonged out-of-hospital times may benefit most from point-of-care thrombolysis.

—Laurie J. Morrison et al.

Examples of point of care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Norton Healthcare becomes the third-largest employer in the Louisville area with five hospitals around the Jefferson County area, a multitude of immediate care centers and other points of care. —Olivia Evans, The Courier-Journal, 4 Apr. 2024

Enzyme immunoassays, however, can be performed as a point of care test with results available in 15 minutes to an hour. —Tanya Feke, Verywell Health, 4 Apr. 2024

Newsletters Sign up for First Opinion The smartest thinkers in life sciences on what's happening — and what's to come Health care providers and patients understand the substantial benefits of having precise and tailored health information readily available at the point of care. —John C. (jack) Lewin and Jane Delgado, STAT, 18 Jan. 2024

Microfluidic technologies have been used in many applications including DNA chips, point of care diagnostics, and inkjet printing. —IEEE Spectrum, 1 Mar. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

point of care

noun

variants also point-of-care

plural points of care also points-of-care

: a site where medical care is received

tests for use at the point of care

Antigen testing … is cheaper and faster than standard testing, and it can happen at points of care—long-term-care facilities, prisons, schools, and doctors' offices.

—Whet Moser, The Atlantic

—often used before another noun

Quidel's rapid immunodiagnostics are used in the point-of-care detection of human medical conditions and illness.

—Medical Industry Today

The key objective of point of care testing is to generate a result quickly so that appropriate treatment can be implemented …

—Christopher P. Price, British Medical Journal