Saturday, July 18, 2020

Nasal and throat swab test

Our younger son was chosen at random to take part in a trial, to try and see who has COVID-19 now but without symptoms.    People were chosen at random from GP registers.

Once enrolled, he was sent a nose and throat swab testing kit, with a link to this subtitled video to explain to him and us what to do.   Because he is under 13, we had to administer the test, which he was not pleased about, arguing he could do it himself.   But protocols are protocols.  We ran the risk of invalidating our part in the experiment by not doing the test properly, but would letting him do it himself do the same?

Some of the procedure in that video will apply in other situations, I am sure, but the video is tailored to this particular trial.   What else is there?

Most of the top listed results on YouTube at the moment are COVID related.  There is this very detailed one from Public Health England and another from PHE on nasal swab tests for care home staff.    Among the videos from hospital systems outside the UK, there is this one from Barts and this one from the Maudsley.   There is this very short one from Medscape, which assumes you have the culture medium, and are not sending the swab somewhere else for testing.  It also assumes your patient has tonsils, which the trial video does not.  

For my students, there is the Royal Marsden Manual - section 13.18, Swab sampling: throat, and Section 13.14 on nasal swabs.    This is very text based, but very step by step.  There is also a throat swab video in Clinical Key (Physician).  


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