Specimen Required

All aerobic culture collections are to be performed by physician and/or nursing staff only.

Superficial wounds:

1)  Cleanse the skin or mucosal surfaces.  For open wounds, debride and thoroughly rinse with sterile saline prior to collection.

2) Gently roll the swab over the surface of the wound approximately five times, focusing on the area where there is eveidence of pus or inflamed tissue.

Drainages:

**Drainage tube devices should not be cultured.  Fluids for culture should never be collected from the collection bag, due to organism overgrowth.  Fluids should be collected by direct aspiration from the area being drained**

1) Disinfect the collection tubing and aseptically aspirate fresh fluid from the tubing.  Submit into sterile, leakproof container.

Aspirates:

1)  Cleanse the skin or mucosal surfaces.  For open wounds, debride and thoroughly rinse with sterile saline prior to collection.

2) Using a syringe and needle, aspirate infected material.  If the initial aspiration fails to obtain material, inject sterile, nonbacteriostatic saline subcutaneously and repeat aspiration attempt.

3) Either place aspirated material into a sterile container or Eswab.  If not possible, then remove the needle from the syringe, cap with sterile cap, and send to the laboratory within 30 minutes

Tissues:

1)  Cleanse the skin or mucosal surfaces.  For open wounds, debride and thoroughly rinse with sterile saline prior to collection.

2) Tissue samples are to be collcted from areas within and adjacent to the area of infection.  Large enough samples should be collected to perform all tests requested (3-4mm sample size)

3)  Should be transported to the laboratory within 30 minutes

Fine needle aspirates:

1)  Cleanse the skin or mucosal surfaces.  For open wounds, debride and thoroughly rinse with sterile saline prior to collection.

2)  Insert the needle into the tissue, using various directions if possible.

3)  If the volume is large, remove the needle and replace with sterile cap (luer-lok).  If the volume is small, aspirate the specimen and sterile saline to disingage from the needle.  Replace the needle with a sterile cap.

Body Fluids (excluding Blood, Cerebrospinal fluid, and Urine):

1)  Disinfect the needle puncture site.

2)  Aseptically perform percutaneous aspiration with syringe and needle to obtain the fluid.  

3)  Place a portion of the aspirated sample into a sterile, leakproof container or into an Eswab culture transport.  Alternatively, the syringe may be submitted by removing the needle and replacing with a sterile cap (Leur-Lok) prior to transport.

Eye Culture (Conjuntival and corneal surfaces):

**Conjunctival and corneal survaces should be rinsed with sterile, non bacteriostatic saline or water to remove any anesthetic prior to specimen collection.  These chemicals may be inhibitory to microorganisms**

1)  Using a sterile swab, roll over the conjunctiva before any medications are applied.  Be sure to culture each eye with separate swabs, if indicated.

Ear External/Internal:

For External Ear:  Insert sterile swab into the ear canal until resistance is met.  Rotate swab and allow fluid to collect on the swab

For typanocentesis fluid (Inner ear):   

1)  Clean the external ear canal with mild detergent.

2)  Using a syringe aspiration technique, obtain the fluid from the eardrum.

3)  Send specimen in sterile container or Eswab.  Syringe may be sent with the needle removed and replaced with a sterile cap (Leur-Lok)

4)  If the eardrum has ruptured, collect the exudate by inserting a sterile swab through the auditory speculum.

Sinus cultures:

1)  Collect drainage form the middle meatus with a wire-shafted mini swab or the mini-tip Eswab.

For maxillary sinus aspiration:

1)  Clean the anterior nares and apply topical anesthetic

2)  Puncture the maxillary antrum and aspirate secretions with a needle and syringe.  If no material is aspirated, irrigate with 2ml of nonbacteriostatic saline.  Submit in sterile, leakproof container, Eswab, or syringe with needle removed and replaced with a sterile cap (Leur-Lok)

-  Label specimen with patients name (first and last) or other unique identifier, patients hospital
identification number or Social Security number, date and time of draw, collectors initials or Meditech number, and test(s) being ordered.  

-  Forward promptly at ambient temperature.