What are the standard precautions for throat swab collection

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The concept of throat swab:

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1. Throat swab specimen: A medical cotton swab is used to dip a small amount of secretions from the pharynx of the human body, and the sample taken is the throat swab sample.

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2. Why do throat swab testing: Collect secretions from the pharynx or tonsils for bacterial culture or virus isolation to assist clinical diagnosis. Such as measles, hand, foot and mouth disease, influenza, and new coronavirus screening. When suspected cases are clinically considered, throat swabs may be collected for nucleic acid testing.

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3. Preparation before throat swab: throat swab sampling tube (tube + swab), sealing bag with a suitable size for displaying the general biological hazard sign, tongue depressor, etc. Check the label on the outside of the throat swab (whether there is a date, specification, whether the color of the sampling liquid has deteriorated, whether it is turbid, whether there is sediment, etc., and also improve the information of the sampling tube, such as: name, sampling unit, paste sampling number)

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Communicate with the examinee first and inform the examinee in advance that they will not smoke, drink, or eat chewing gum or irritating and flavorful food within 30 minutes before sampling.

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During throat swab sampling:

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①. First, check personal information with the subject.

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②, then tear off the outer packaging of the sampling swab, and take out the sampling swab;

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3. Let the subject open his mouth to make an ah sound, expose the throat, and press the tongue down with a tongue depressor if necessary (softly press the front 2/3 of the tongue and the back 1/3);

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④. Take out the sterile swab, wipe the bilateral pharyngeal tonsils and posterior pharyngeal wall 3 times gently and quickly, put the swab head into the preservation solution,

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⑤Fold off the tail of the swab at the mouth of the preservation tube, discard the tail, tighten and cover the tube cap (strictly perform aseptic operation),

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⑥. Check the patient's name again after sampling;

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7. Put it in a sealed bag and a special transfer box, and quickly send the sample to the laboratory for testing.

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Notes to note:

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①. When the swab is put into the tube, it should be placed vertically, and do not wipe to the bottle mouth to avoid contamination. When placed in the transfer box, it should be placed vertically to avoid liquid leakage.

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②. It is best to send/deliver it to the laboratory for inspection on the day of sampling.

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3. Before submitting for inspection, the appropriate specimen must be consistent with the inspection form. The appearance of the sampling tube must be clear and famous with basic information. Specimens without basic information cannot be tested. , submission form and other materials, the materials submitted should be ensured not to be contaminated, and not to be placed with the specimen.

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④. In order to prevent cross-section during sampling, it should be avoided within 2 hours after the patient eats. The collection action is gentle, stable and agile to prevent discomfort to the patient

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⑤. Throat swabs should not touch other parts during the collection process to ensure the accuracy of the specimens left.

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⑥. When deciding to do a throat swab, please do not use antibacterial drugs.

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7. The depth of throat swab collection and the length of mucosal contact time. When collecting throat swabs, if the sampling time is not enough or poor quality swabs are used because the subject's vomiting reaction is relatively large, false negatives may be caused, resulting in delayed treatment of patients.