Public Health Education Should Include Point-of-Care Testing: Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic

GOAL: The goal is to present key principles of point-of-care testing (POCT) in educational curricula that meet critical needs for rapid decision-making in disasters, outbreaks of highly infectious diseases, emergency management, and complex crises. OBSERVATIONS: The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic unequivocally proved the value of POC strategies. Striking needs identified by COVID-19 challenges have yet to be entirely fulfilled. A comprehensive national survey showed absence of POCT training in public health colleges, schools, and programs. Fundamental improvements in national structuring of POC knowledge, skills, experience, training, dissemination, accreditation, and licensing are necessary, so that multidisciplinary public health teams can respond effectively and efficiently by geospatially optimizing the control and mitigation of highly infectious diseases and other critical challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Four sets of POCT learning objectives were developed for public health and other educational institutions. Global implementation of POC diagnostics in the hands of trained personnel will help avoid untimely worldwide crises, huge economic losses, uncounted excess mortality, and sudden disruptive surges of dangerous infectious threats to personal security and cultural stability.