Panel Discussion: Emerging technologies in laboratory medicine, opportunities and challenges

Part 1: Sustainable health and laboratory medicine; Presented by Professor Damien Gruson

Summary: Chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, renal failure orcancer are associated with high morbidity and mortality and contribute to a very important part of health expenditure. The prevalence of chronic diseases is increasing also because an aging population. The optimization of the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with chronic diseases is a major challenge in an era of healthcare workforces shortage and budget limitations.

Emerging technologies are shifting the paradigm of the management of chronic diseases and of the interactions within the healthcare ecosystem. The testing loop process is also transforming with more capacity of remote monitoring. The evolutions of the pre-analytical phase consider now the citizen and patient literacy as well as their empowerment in disease prevention and monitoring. Measurements are shifting because of new generation of sensors and point of care systems.  The role of specialists in laboratory medicine now also includes the validation of these novel technologies, the education of the caregivers and the management of data as the volume of data generated is exponentially increasing. Emerging technologies represent also additional supports for integrated care pathways and multidisciplinary interactions.

Part 2: Let’s talk about errors in point of care testing in mobile health environments; Presented by Dr. Anna Fuezery

Summary: The presentation will first review our current understanding of errors in point of care testing (POCT), with a particular emphasis on mobile health environments. The presentation will then discuss general approaches to POCT error quantification, monitoring, and mitigation, as well as the relevance of such approaches to mobile health environments.