Diagnostics in general practice

How our research benefits to society

Primary care addresses over 90% of patient health concerns, and accurate diagnostics are essential for efficiently referring patients. Applying tests may improve decision-making in primary care. However, insufficient guidelines for the indication, interpretation, and communication of tests and their results make it difficult to apply appropriate tests or decide whether to forgo additional testing. When managing children, extra caution is required, which adds complexity and diagnostic uncertainty. These challenges are further compounded by a changing healthcare landscape, characterized by increasing patient demands and expanding diagnostic options. Generating evidence on tests is essential to inform indications, interpretation, and communication, thereby improving the diagnostic process in primary care.

New diagnostic technologies, such as Point-of-Care Tests (POCT), which are now more compact and increasingly available, show potential to support GPs in their decision making. However, it takes an average of nine years to generate evidence for new tests, and many tests developed in specialist settings lack sufficient evaluation in primary care. This can lead to missed or overdiagnoses, increased patient burden, and unnecessary costs. Approaches to accelerate the evaluation of diagnostic tests could help speed up the implementation of tests with added value and prevent the use of tests without added value in primary care.

Routine testing in primary care, for example in patients at risk for cardiovascular disease, leads to a high GP workload. Applying the correct test protocols is challenging, especially in patients with comorbidities and multiple medications, and can result in both undertesting and overtesting. More efficient approaches are needed to make routine testing cost-effective, improve patient outcomes, and reduce the daily workload for GPs.