A qualitative study from the VALUE-Dx Social Science Team has recently been published in Frontiers in Public Health. It is part of their World Antibiotic Awareness Week research topic. 

The team researched the views and experiences of stakeholders on implementing new diagnostics in primary care to support managing community-acquired acute respiratory tract infections. Twenty-six stakeholders participated, from Belgium, the United Kingdom and several EU-level organisations. 

The study gives insights into areas of the unmet need in diagnostic implementation and provides recommendations for research and practice based on the stakeholder interviews. Stakeholders stressed the need to engage with clinicians to act as champions for tests to help raise awareness and generate new evidence on how tests are used. While acknowledging the potential of point-of-care tests for improving patient outcomes and impacting antibiotic prescribing behaviour, some raised concerns on how tests would be used in practice and wished to see national data on effectiveness. 

Read more here.