Why must the bacterial culture application form indicate the source of the specimen?

Why must the bacterial culture application form indicate the source of the specimen?

The main work of the clinical microbiology laboratory is to isolate and accurately identify pathogenic bacteria from clinical specimens, and at the same time guide the rational clinical application of drugs, so as to provide reliable information for clinical diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and epidemiological investigation and monitoring of nosocomial infections. in accordance with.

To carry out pathogen inspection and identification of infectious diseases, it is necessary to collect patient samples and conduct a series of experiments to obtain clear etiological diagnosis and drug susceptibility results. There are various sites of infection in clinical patients, including respiratory tract infection, urinary tract infection, blood infection, etc. Therefore, microbiological examination needs to take specimens from the corresponding site according to the different sites of infection. Common specimen types for microbiological examination include sputum, midstream urine, blood, stool, pleural and ascites, cerebrospinal fluid, secretions, and catheters. Therefore, clinicians must indicate the type of specimen when opening the inspection item checklist, because different types of specimens are handled differently by the clinical microbiology room. Take a ring of mid-section urine samples (about 10 microliters) and inoculate them on the blood plate, and then carry out the subsequent bacterial identification procedure; for sputum samples, we first digested them with 3% trypsin, and then inoculated them with the inoculation loop. On blood plates, chocolate plates, MacConkey plates and Sabouraud plates, the subsequent bacterial identification procedures were carried out. If the specimen type is not indicated, it will directly affect the quality and results of the inspection items. Even if different specimens, such as “general bacteria (pleural and ascites) culture + drug sensitivity”, the testing procedures of the clinical microbiology laboratory for pleural effusion and ascites are the same, but the type of specimen must be indicated. Because although it does not affect the bacterial identification process, when issuing the test report, the clinical microbiology staff cannot indicate the type of specimen on the test report, which will directly affect the interpretation of the test results by the clinician.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the quality of the specimen directly affects the correctness of the diagnostic results. Improper specimens can lead to false negative and false positive results. Therefore, standardized operations should be performed in all aspects of specimen collection, inspection, and storage. , Strict control is the premise to ensure accurate and reliable experimental results.