Unknown Public Health & Healthcare NIHR-supported project Digestion, Kidneys & Other Organs

A mixed methods study to identify key factors impacting the uptake and adoption of novel rapid diagnostics for respiratory tract infections in the context of optimising antibiotic prescribing in primary care

Funder NIHR (part of DHSC)
Recipient organisation NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care
NIHR support Recorded as supported by this research centre
Period Jan 2025 — Ongoing

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A GP sees a patient with a cough and, within ten minutes, a rapid test tells them whether the infection is bacterial or viral—and whether antibiotics will help. This matters because antibiotics are often prescribed for respiratory infections that turn out to be viral, where they do nothing. Overuse drives antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a growing global health threat. Rapid diagnostic tests exist, but UK GPs rarely use them. The main barrier is time: most consultations are too short for a test that takes several minutes to process. This project investigates what patients and doctors actually want from such tests, and what practical obstacles stop them being adopted. If successful, the research will produce a decision-making guide for the NHS to assess whether a given rapid test offers good value for money. That could help shift prescribing practice in primary care, reducing unnecessary antibiotic use without compromising patient care. The guide will be tested against a real example test to check it works. The impact is not a new device, but a practical framework to get existing tools into the hands of the clinicians who need them.

View original technical description
Sometimes, people get sick with infection from tiny things called bugs. Doctors use special medicines called antibiotics to treat them. But if antibiotics are used too much, these medicines don't work anymore. This is called antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and it is a big health problem around the world. One reason for AMR is using antibiotics when they aren’t needed, like when someone has a cold, it's usually caused by a virus. Antibiotics can't kill viruses; they only work on bacteria. Doctors need a way to tell if an infection is caused by bacteria or a virus to know if you need antibiotics or not. A rapid test can help doctors check quickly, so they only give antibiotics when needed. Rapid tests sound helpful tools, but they aren’t used much by UK’s doctors One big reason is time, most doctors are usually very busy. They only have a short time to see each patient. If the tests take too long, it can make things harder. So, we want to know what patients and doctors think about these tests to make it easier to use them more often, and to see if they are worth what they cost. Researchers want to find out what helps or stops doctors from using rapid tests in their surgeries. They also want to make a guide to help the NHS decide if these tests are worth the money. The project has three parts: • Ask patients and doctors which test features are most important to them. • Create a guide to help the NHS decide if rapid tests are good value for money. They will do this by holding workshops with doctors and the public. • Test the guide using an example rapid test to see if it works well.

Researchers

Kerrie Davies (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Rapid respiratory microbiological point-of-care-testing in primary care: a randomised controlled trial with internal pilot and qualitative and quantitative investigation of microbial, behavioural and antibiotic mechanisms (the RAPID-TEST RCT)
Valuing rapid diagnostics for respiratory infections in the context of optimising antibiotic prescribing and controlling antimicrobial resistance.
The Economics of Rapid Diagnostics to Reduce Antibiotic Prescribing in NHS Wales (TRaDe)
Point of care testing using FebriDx to improve antibiotic use for respiratory tract infections in primary care: a mixed methods feasibility study (PREFIX)
Improving the uptake and SusTainability of Effective interventions to promote Prudent antibiotic Use in Primary care (STEP-UP)

Original classification

Early diagnosis and personalised care

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.