Wound Swab collection 

 

REQUIREMENTS: 

 ● Labelled sterile transport bottle/ test-tube (patient's details, site of the wound, date should be mentioned) 

● Swab and transport media

● Sterile normal saline 

● Antiseptic solution 

● Dressings 

PROCEDURE: 

 ● Follow universal precautions and aseptic precautions

PREPARATION OF WOUND: 

 ● For dirty contaminated wound before taking the swab, cleanse the wound thoroughly with sterile normal saline. A kidney tray can be placed below to collect the irrigating fluid

● Use sterile gauze to remove excess saline from wound surface

● If the wound is dry slightly moisten with sterile saline

● DO NOT USE ANY ANTIMICROBIAL CLEANSING SOLUTION BEFORE TAKING THE SWAB TO AVOID FALSE NEGATIVE REPORT

SWABBING: There are two methods for obtaining the swab:

● Levine method: for this 1 sq.cm area of viable wound bed tissue must be visible. Rotate the tip of the swab over 1 sq.cm area of viable tissue for 5 seconds. Use sufficient pressure to extract fluid from the wound tissue. If 1 sq.cm viable wound bed tissue is not visible then the swab cannot be collected. Debridement is required before swab can be collected. This technique is better then Z technique. 

● Z technique: move the swab in a zig-zag motion across the wound, while rotating the swab between the fingers.

DO NOT TOUCH THE WOUND EDGES AND PERIWOUND SKIN WITH THE SWAB

● Put the swab in the transport medium bottle/ empty sterile test-tube as indicated for microscopy, culture and sensitivity. 

● Remove the gloves, perform hand hygiene. Put on new sterile gloves

● Apply proper dressing over the wound

● Remove the gloves, perform hand hygiene 

● Fill the microbiology form with clinical details

● Send the sample and form to the laboratory as soon as possible.

 

VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/kte6RKorGis 

 

Written by our guest author Shrinivas Surnar

Illustrations by Ayushi Gupta

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