Saskatchewan Introduces Point of Care Testing to Three More Rural Emergency Departments

Released on May 16, 2025

Residents of the Kamsack, La Loche and Shaunavon areas will benefit from enhanced access to emergency health care at their hospitals through an innovative approach to laboratory services, known as Point of Care Testing (POCT). 

Expanding to these locations is part of the Government of Saskatchewan's investment of $33,000 per site to provide emergency departments in rural and remote locations with POCT devices, enabling trained health care staff to conduct a critical range of specific diagnostics, like hemoglobin, white blood cell count, blood sugar and cardiac tests, delivering the results to providers in under 30 minutes.

"Expanding point-of-care testing into rural and remote communities across Saskatchewan empowers our frontline professionals to deliver rapid diagnostic services and ensures patients receive important lab tests and necessary care when regular lab staff are not available," Seniors and Rural and Remote Health Minister Lori Carr said. "We continue to support the Saskatchewan Health Authority's efforts to recruit more lab staff in rural areas and will continue working to keep emergency services stabilized across the province."

"With point-of-care testing, local health care teams deliver rapid, accurate laboratory results without delay when laboratory staff are unavailable at the facility," Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), Provincial Clinical and Support Services, Executive Director of Laboratory Medicine Brandi Keller said. "This approach ensures patients receive prompt access to diagnosis and treatment as close to their home as possible and supports reliable access to emergency departments in rural and remote communities." 

POCT is part of an overall strategy aimed at keeping rural and remote emergency departments open and accessible when regular local laboratory services are temporarily unavailable by providing physicians with vital information for quick decision-making in emergencies.

Since it was first piloted in Leader, Maple Creek and Wynyard in 2023, POCT in the rural communities has safely and effectively prevented a total of 91 potential emergency department disruptions, as of April 15, 2025.

The POCT model is a supplementary initiative aimed at filling temporary gaps in laboratory coverage to maintain access to emergency care in rural and remote communities, while the province remains committed to recruiting staff to rural laboratories. 

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