Inflammatory parameters, such as CRP, can help diagnose serious infections. Due to the often-late availability of laboratory results, they rarely influence clinical treatment.
A solution to this is the use of a rapid test. A CRP rapid test is performed via a finger prick and this gives a result within three minutes. In this way, the result is available at the time of the consultation when it can still influence clinical decision making, if necessary.
Previous research has shown that a Point-of-care (POC) CRP test should only be used for children with an increased risk of having a serious infection. This increased risk can be determined with a validated clinical decision tree. A CRP value of < 5mg/L excludes a serious infection, avoiding unnecessary referrals and additional examinations.
A CRP rapid test can also reduce the use of antibiotics in acutely ill children in primary care. A recent literature review showed that the use of CRP as a rapid test in children can drastically reduce the number of antibiotic prescriptions as long as clear advice on how to interpret the CRP values is available.
Please find the manual of the CRP rapid test HERE.
The following video demonstrates the use of the CRP rapid test.
