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Something interesting and exciting?

28/10/2013

There is something interesting and exciting going on in the
worlds of pathology and medical education...

Okay, I have been told many times that exciting and interesting are words that should never be used to describe anything related to pathology (which to most people appears to be dull and boring!) but I think it’s worth a blog...

How to spit & polish your diagnosis

22/10/2013

Just as in the previous blog about urine results, many healthcare staff do not know how to interpret sputum results and this can have unwanted consequences for patients in two ways:

Over reliance on negative culture results can dismiss a diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) when the microscopy on the same sample indicates bacteria are present!
Over reliance on positive culture results can lead to unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions when the culture result actually identifies a contaminant

The approach to interpreting a sputum result correctly is to look at the report as a whole, after all if the laboratory didn’t think all of the information on the report was necessary they
wouldn’t be telling you it!

The report is divided into three sections: Appearance, Microscopy and Culture. These should be looked at in this order.

Urine Interpretation as easy as 1, 2, 3

14/10/2013

One of the most common specimens processed in a microbiology laboratory is the urine sample, with hundreds of thousands being processed in each lab every year. You would expect that all doctors would know how to interpret the result of such a common sample type, however in reality this is often not the case.

Just piddle in the bottle!

7/10/2013

The majority of urines sent to the microbiology laboratory are labelled as “MSU”, short for midstream urine. But do you know what an MSU is, how it is taken and why? No? Then read on….

Midstream urine is taken by voiding the first part of the urine stream (10-20mls at least) and then collecting the next portion (approx. 10-20mls), this eliminates the urine that has been in the urethra and should therefore only be urine from the bladder. In men it is important to retract the foreskin and in women part the labia. This is done because the skin is not sterile and is often contaminated with the same types of bacteria that can cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) leading to false positive urine cultures. The patient can then finish urinating as normal. This is not the easiest sample to obtain in bedbound, frail patients, or in pregnancy. So why do we do it?

Something interesting and exciting?

How to spit & polish your diagnosis

Urine Interpretation as easy as 1, 2, 3

Just piddle in the bottle!

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