Getting Sputum culture

 Q: Asking a patient to rinse the mouth prior to obtaining sputum culture increases the optimal yield of the collected material? (select one)

A) True

B) False

Answer: A

A large number of pneumonia patients (almost one-third) cannot produce enough or right sputum specimens, even when they are asked to do under medical supervision. The four best way to increase the optimum yield and improve the quality of the specimen is: 

•  Getting sputum before starting antibiotic treatment 
•  Asking a patient to rinse the mouth before expectoration 
•  NPO couple of hours before expectoration 
•  Inoculate the culture media as soon as quickly preferably at the bedside

#pulmonary

#infectious-diseases

References:

1. Muzanye G, Morgan K, Johnson J, Mayanja-Kizza H. Impact of mouth rinsing before sputum collection on culture contamination. Afr Health Sci. 2009;9(3):200.

2. Bartlett JG, Mundy LM. Community-acquired pneumonia. N Engl J Med 1995; 333:1618.