Specimen Collection and Testing Procedures

Specimen Collection

• Proper setup for tests like glucose tolerance tests requires patients to fast at least 8 hours.
• Accurate results are ensured by this fasting period.

Diagnostic Testing

• Proper setup is crucial for accurate test results.
• Patients need instructions for tests like glucose tolerance tests to fast for at least 8 hours before to ensure accurate results.

Pretest Assessment

• Proper test setup is critical for accurate results.
• Patients need instruction for tests like glucose tolerance test to avoid complications.

Intra-test

• Correct procedures during tests like capillary blood glucose should be followed.
• Nurses should take samples without contamination, for example, during capillary blood glucose tests, samples should be taken from the patient's fingertip by pricking the side of the finger to collect blood samples without contamination.

Post-test

• Post-test procedures like updating patient charts, labeling samples, or generating immediate lab reports are important.
• Procedures after a throat swab include updating the patient's chart, properly labeling the sample, and creating an immediate lab report.

Measuring Capillary Blood Glucose

• Used to measure current blood glucose levels.

Responsibility

• Monitoring blood glucose levels
• Promoting blood glucose regulation
• Evaluating insulin effectiveness

Assessment

• Determining testing needs (frequency and type).
• Assessing client understanding of the procedure.
• Ensuring clients are aware of the procedure
• Reviewing past responses and client reactions.

Equipment (Specimen Collection)

• Glucometer
• Blood glucose reagent strips
• Gauze
• Warm cloths
• Disposable gloves
• Sterile lancets
• Lancet injectors
• Antiseptic swabs

Implementation (Specimen Collection)

• Cleaning the puncture site with antiseptic wipes.
• Allowing the site to air dry completely.
• Pricking the lateral aspect of the fingertip.
• Placing the injector against the side of the fingertip and gently pricking it.
• Expressing a drop of blood onto the reagent strip.

Evaluation (Specimen Collection)

• Comparing blood glucose readings with normal levels.
• Result display
• Documentation.
• Insulin administration.
• Reporting/following up.

Specimen Collecting and Testing

• Ensuring patient privacy and safety
• Practicing correct collection procedures.
• Promptly transporting specimens to maintain accuracy

Stool Specimen

• Purpose: Detect occult blood, bacteria, and parasites.
• Instructions: Avoid contamination with urine or menstrual discharge.
• Proper collection involves ensuring clean collection for suspected parasitic infections, enabling prompt delivery for analysis.

Urine Specimen

• Purpose: Detect microbial presence, identify antibiotic susceptibility.
• Assessment: Evaluate client ability to provide specimen, assess urine color, consistency, and frequency, checking for urinary tract infection (UTI) factors like urgency, dysuria (painful urination), hematuria (blood in urine), flank pain, and cloudy urine with foul odor.
• Planning: UAP (unlicensed assistive personnel) can collect clean-catch or midstream urine specimens. Nurses must instruct UAP on proper specimen collection to avoid contamination.
• Equipment: Clean gloves, antiseptic wipes, sterile specimen containers, basins of warm soapy water, washcloths, and specimen identification labels.

Implementation (Specimen Collection)

• Gathering necessary equipment; ensuring proper identification of the client; explaining the procedure; performing hand hygiene; providing instructions and assistance (e.g., bathroom) for the client; for female clients, cleaning the perineal area with soap, water, and antiseptic; or for male clients, retracting the foreskin and cleaning the urinary meatus; collecting a midstream urine specimen; labeling the specimen; and transporting it to the lab.
• Share laboratory results with the primary care provider/client
• Discuss findings with the primary care provider and client.
• Performing follow-up interventions, including administering prescribed medications, providing client education.

Timed Urine Specimen

• Timed period: 1–2 hours to 24hours.
• Purpose: Measure specific constituents, assess kidney function, determine glucose metabolism disorders, provide a clean receptacle for urine collection, collect urine specimens during a specific period, record the start and end times of collection, and documenting specimen collection.

Urine testing

• Test include measuring specific gravity, pH, glucose, and ketone using reagent strips.
• Principle: Dip the reagent strip into urine, remove excess urine, wait 30 seconds, compare the strip's color to the chart without waiting for color change after 30 seconds.

Sputum Specimen

• Purpose: Culture and sensitivity testing to identify specific microorganisms and their drug sensitivities; identify cell structure and function, and detect pathology, especially lung cancer.
• Cytology: Requires three early-morning specimen collections
• Acid-fast bacillus (AFB): Require three consecutive days of specimen collection for identification.
• Effectiveness of therapy: Assess the effect of the given treatment.

Throat Culture

• Purpose: Collect samples from the mucosa of the oropharynx or tonsillar regions to diagnose bacterial or fungal infections; culture or swab collection to diagnose specific infections like pneumonia, whooping cough, or tonsillitis.
• Guidelines: Use culture swabs for collection.
• Best time: Early morning for AFB culture.

Safety (Specimen Collection)

• Wear gloves and PPE if TB is suspected.
• Ensure specimen does not contact the container exterior.
• Offer mouthwash after sputum collection.
• Label and transport the specimen immediately to the lab.
• Record the time, consistency, hemoptysis, amount, and odor of sputum.