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| English: A culture positive case of strep throat with typical tonsillar exudate in an 8 year old (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: White splotches typical of strep throat. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Diagram of the Human Throat for the Throat article. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Being Suave at the Throat Swab
A throat culture is done to eliminate or confirm the most common cause of strep throat. This is a group A streptococcus bacteria. A sample is taken from the back of the throat. You should aim to swab any white or yellow spots in the back of the throat. Coating on the tonsils should always be swabbed. The medical assistant must avoid touching other areas of the mouth such as inside of the cheeks or lips.
You should avoid touching the outside areas of the mouth when inserting or exiting the swab in the mouth. Always wear gloves to avoid contaminating the sample or exposing yourself to the bacteria.
Always have the patient tilt their head and open their mouths as wide as possible. Then you depress the tongue with a tongue depressor to get a clear view of the back of the throat. This can be difficult in patients with a sensitive gag reflex or in children .The sterile swab is rubbed over the tonsils and suspicious areas in the back of the throat. You remove the swab and tongue from the patient's mouth taking care not to contaminate the sample
Aim to be Accurate
Most offices will use rapid strep test so chances are the results will be available the same day the test is taken. If it is sent to the lab results will take two days to get. The swab is returned to the vial and marked with the correct identification of the patient. A second swab may be taken if a follow up culture is needed. It is important not to contaminate the swab when removing it or replacing it in the vial. It should not touch the outside of the vial.
A rapid strep test is not as accurate as the ones sent to the lab to culture. You can get a false negative if you do target the obviously inflamed part of the throat. You have to get your swap in the right place to avoid false positives. The sample can be contaminated with too much flora because the swab touched the lips and other parts of the throat and the strep could not be detected. The rapid test only tests for the common form of the strain it does not detect uncommon strains.
The most common strep bacteria known as streptococcus pyogenes and it is very contagious. It is spread by droplets when the infected patient sneezes or coughs. It is important as a health care professional you protect yourself from strep when you are doing a throat culture.
Strep can be related to other ailments like tonsillitis, kidney inflammation, and fevers that can damage the heart. Rheumatic fever can result from untreated strep infections. This condition can cause damage to the lining of the heart and problems with joints, muscle, and skin tissue. This makes it even more important for the medical assistant to become suave at the throat
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