Karishma Kulkarni, Nikhil Thatte, Rucha Shelgikar, Ira Shah
medical Sciences Department, Pediatric Oncall
Address For Correspondance: Dr Ira Shah, Editor- Pediatric Oncall, 1/B Saguna, 271/B St. Francis Road, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai 400056. Email: info@pediatriconcall.com
The person taking nasal or throat swabs should be wearing gloves, gown, mask, and eyewear.
Nasal Swabs – Method
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Ensure that the patient does not blow his/her nose prior to taking the nasal swabs. |
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Tilt patients head back gently and steady the chin. |
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Insert cotton bud end of dry sterile swab into right nostril and rub firmly against the turbinate (to ensure swab contains cells as well as mucus). |
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Insert swab into tube of transport medium, break off shaft of swab and recap tube. |
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Repeat procedure for left nostril using new sterile swab and insert into same tube of transport medium. |
Throat Swabs - Method
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Ask patient to open mouth and stick their tongue out |
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Use tongue spatula to press the tongue downward to floor of the mouth |
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Use sterile cotton swab to swab both of the tonsillar arches and the posterior nasopharynx, without touching the sides of the mouth |
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Insert swab into same transport tube containing nose swabs, break off shaft and recap tube firmly. |
Label the transport tube with the patient’s initials, date of birth, case number and date of collection. Place all transport tubes in a plastic bag and complete request form making sure to include the name of the Facility. The plastic bag containing specimens should be packaged in a flask with ice bricks and sent to the laboratory as soon as possible.
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