Collection and transport of specimens Lab 4 A

Collection and transport of specimens Lab. 4 A. L. Noor Ameer

General guidelines for specimen collection • 1 -To minimize contamination, use strict aseptic technique when collecting specimens. • 2 - Collect specimens from anatomic sites to yield pathogens. • 3 - Submit adequate volumes of specimens. • 4 - Tissue or other body fluids should be preferred over swabs, to get quality material. • 5 - Collect the specimen before the antibiotic therapy

• • 6 - Minimize transport time. 7 - Use of transport media. 8 - Proper label of the specimen. 9 - Use of proper container

Specimens those are unacceptable for microbiological testing • • 1 - Unlabeled specimens. 2 - Specimens received in broken containers. 3 - Specimens with obvious contamination. 4 - Unpreserved specimens received > 12 hours after being collected. • 5 - Specimens not appropriate for a particular test.

Types of specimens to collect • Skin, blood, sputum, urine, deep specimen, feces, cervical, eye, ear, nose, throat, cerebrospinal fluid and etc. .

Types of urine specimens • • • 1 - First morning specimen. 2 - random specimen. 3 - Timed collection specimens. 4 - Catheterized specimen. 5 - Clean-catch midstream specimen

Stool specimen collection • 1 - The stool sample should not be contaminated with urine or water. • 2 - Collect the sample in a dry, wide-mouth plastic container. • 3 - Antacids, barium bismuth, anti-diarrhea medication or oily laxatives should not be used prior to collection of the stool specimen. • 4 - Label all the stool containers with name, date and time of stool collection. • 5 - the stool should be taken to the laboratory within about an hour after collection