Point of Need, Global Outreach, and a Universal Companion

Point-of-care testing allows one to practice evidencebased medicine efficiently at the point of need. Therefore, point-ofneed logic is used to construct 3 strategies (''wishes'') for future expansion of this dynamic field. These strategies reach out-synergize primary care access, emergency services, and disaster readiness, including in low-resource settings where health care delivery systems can be designed as smallworld networks that effectively blend rural demography and geographic topography. From this topodemographic point-of-need perspective, a singular hypothesis emerges: point-of-care testing increasingly will improve world health by providing an appropriate universal companion in primary and critical care and also public health preparedness where inherent duality of purpose yields substantial added value.