Which specimen is typically used for a waived point-of-care test?

Which specimen is typically used for a waived point-of-care test?

• A. Urine
• B. Whole blood
• C. Plasma
• D. Eye fluid

Answer: (A)

Waived point-of-care tests are designed to be simple, fast, and easy to perform with minimal specimen handling. Urine fits this well because it is noninvasive to collect, readily obtainable in most settings, and many common waived tests are immunoassay-based on urine, such as pregnancy tests and basic urinalysis panels. Collecting blood or plasma requires venipuncture or fingerstick with additional processing, which adds complexity and moves testing away from the waived category. Eye fluid isn’t a typical specimen for routine waived tests due to collection difficulty and a lack of widespread validated assays. So urine is the most practical and commonly used specimen for waived point-of-care testing.

Waived point-of-care tests are designed to be simple, fast, and easy to perform with minimal specimen handling. Urine fits this well because it is noninvasive to collect, readily obtainable in most settings, and many common waived tests are immunoassay-based on urine, such as pregnancy tests and basic urinalysis panels. Collecting blood or plasma requires venipuncture or fingerstick with additional processing, which adds complexity and moves testing away from the waived category. Eye fluid isn’t a typical specimen for routine waived tests due to collection difficulty and a lack of widespread validated assays. So urine is the most practical and commonly used specimen for waived point-of-care testing.