Fundamentals of Nursing, 2nd Edition

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Topic 2-2
Specimen Collection

One means of gathering information about the patient's health status is by identifying pathogens and analyzing urine, blood, sputum, and feces. As a practical nurse, you may be responsible for collecting and labeling specimen for analysis and ensuring their delivery to the lab.

For self-protection and to prevent the spread of disease, wear gloves whenever you work with body fluids. Washing your hands carefully also prevents the spread of disease.

Universal Body Substance Precautions

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

Cite the principles, supplies and equipment, and procedures that apply to obtaining a sample for throat culture.
Cite the principles, supplies and equipment, and procedures that apply to obtaining a sputum specimen.
Cite the principles, supplies and equipment, and procedures that apply to obtaining a stool specimen.
Identify the steps of the procedure for correctly obtaining a midstream urine specimen, a 24-hour urine collection, and urine for a pregnancy test.
Identify abnormalities in the color and odor of urine.
Cite the reason for obtaining a blood culture.

Select a Lesson:

Throat Culture

Sputum Specimens

Stool Specimens

Urine Specimens

Blood Cultures

The role you play in collecting and labeling specimens and ensuring their timely delivery to the lab for analysis is a very important one. Carefully follow the steps of each procedure to prevent contaminating the specimen or spreading infection. Always document that the procedure was done and by whom.

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Primary Content Provider: United States Army
Ancillary Content and Online Version: David L. Heiserman
Publisher: SweetHaven Publishing Services