Module 10

Clinical Specimens

Various types of produce or specimen, such as blood, sputum, urine, feces, and cerebrospinal fluid, that are collected from patients and used to follow the progress of infectious diseases.

Specimen Integrity

The prevention of different microorganisms from infesting the culture, maintaining the quality of the specimen.

Proper Labeling

Employing proper labeling on clinical specimens, including the patient's name, date of birth, age, hospital and social security number, to verify identity and prevent mix-ups.

Roles of HCPs in Submission of Clinical Specimen

The responsibilities of healthcare professionals in obtaining appropriate clinical specimens, collecting them properly, and transporting them to the clinical microbiology laboratory.

Three Components of Quality Specimen

The proper selection, collection, and transport of clinical specimens are essential for ensuring the quality of the specimen and accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases.

General Precautions

Precautions that must be followed when selecting, collecting, and transporting clinical specimens to prevent contamination, preserve specimen integrity, and ensure accurate diagnosis.

Blood Specimen

A specimen collected from the bloodstream, which may indicate the presence of bacteria and be used to diagnose bacteremia or septicemia.

Urine Specimen

A specimen collected from the urinary bladder, which may be contaminated by indigenous microbiota and used to diagnose urinary tract infections.

Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Specimen

A specimen collected from the spinal cord, which is used to diagnose meningitis, encephalitis, and other central nervous system infections.

Sputum Specimen

Pus that accumulates deep within the lungs of a patient with pneumonia, tuberculosis, or other lower respiratory infections, which is collected to diagnose lower respiratory infections.

Throat Swab Specimen

A specimen collected from the throat to determine whether a patient has strep throat (Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngitis).

Wound Specimen

A specimen that should be an aspirate, rather than swab specimen.

Gonococci Culture Specimen

A specimen which only Dacron, calcium alginate, or nontoxic cotton swabs should be used to collect this specimen. Swabs should be immediately inoculated into Thayer-Martin/Martin-Lewis medium and incubated in CO2 containing environment.

Fecal Specimen

This specimen should be collected at the laboratory and processed immediately to prevent a decrease in temperature, which allows the pH to drop, causing death of many Shigella and Salmonella species.

Surgical Pathology

Study of tissues removed from living patients during surgery to help diagnose a disease and determine a treatment plan

Cytopathology

It is used for examining cells from bodily tissues or fluids to determine a diagnosis.

Forensic Pathology

It focuses on determining the cause of death by examining a corpse.

Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology

Specialty of dentistry and pathology which deals with the nature, identification, and management of diseases affecting the oral and maxillofacial regions.

Clinical Pathology

It does examination of body fluids. In addition, it is consists of several other laboratories.

Clinical Chemistry Laboratory

It is part of clinical pathology which is usually STAT and routine testing in the areas of general chemistry, endocrinology, special chemistry, immunology, and toxicology.

Hematology Laboratory

It is part of clinical pathology which has basic and advanced hematology testing on whole blood, serum, urine, cerebrospinal fluids and other body fluids.

Blood Bank

It is part of clinical pathology which is responsible for donor screening and selection, blood collection, testing, preparation, handling, storage, release and dispatch of all its blood product.

Immunology Laboratory

It is part of clinical pathology which includes laboratory testing and clinical consultation in several broad areas including the evaluation of autoimmune disease, immunodeficiencies, immunoproliferative disorders, and allergy, as well, as having responsibility for some aspects of infectious disease serology.

Clinical Microbiology

It is part of clinical pathology which is a branch of Science dealing with the interrelation of macro- and microorganisms under normal and pathological conditions and in the dynamics of a pathological process with an account of the treatment till the clinical and/or complete recovery is presented.

Immunology Section

A section of clinical microbiology laboratory which focuses on autoimmune disease, immunodeficiencies and allergy.

Mycology Section

A section of clinical microbiology laboratory which focuses categorizing mold infections.

Bacteriology Section

A section of clinical microbiology laboratory which focuses on isolating and identifying bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Parasitology Section

A section of clinical microbiology laboratory which focuses on detection and identification of domestic and wild animal parasites.

Virology Section

A section of clinical microbiology laboratory which performs molecular methods, rapid antigen testing, culture and serology.