Collecting a C-Diff sample can be especially challenging for elderly women. Since C. diff causes diarrhea, moreover, most elderly women are also incontinent of urine. Which results in contamination of the specimen. Now the question becomes: how to collect a clean sample? While I was working as a registered nurse, there were so many times that a patient was sent home. Without a proper specimen collected for the lab to test. Thereby leaving a sick woman without treatment. Need I remind everyone? C Diff Is Deadly! Without proper antibiotics. This infection will overtake the gut. But this does not need to happen. The answer is simple. The stool and urine need to be separated.
Collect C. Diff Sample: The Challenge With Elderly Women.
While maintaining a viable stool sample is paramount, since we all know that urine contamination is unacceptable, now comes the solution. You will need two common and simple pieces of equipment. First of all, a convenient place to evacuate the bowel. This is as simple as a bedside commode. But you need the second piece of equipment. A simple “Potty Hat”. Place the hat as far forward as possible. With the thin side facing the back of the commode. Next, remind the patient to sit farther back on the commode than normal. Since we are not collecting the stool in the potty hat, contamination in the potty hat does not matter. But the remaining stool in the commode will be uncontaminated and ready for testing. Such a simple solution. But one that can result in an accurate diagnosis. While reducing the frustration of your patient.
Collect C. Diff Sample: Success VS Failure
As nurses, we entered this profession to help. Sometimes, with all of the hustle and bustle of a busy workplace, it is certainly easy to “not see the forest for the trees.” Along with all of the advances in technology, it becomes easy to forget the simple solutions. However, obtaining our objective is our goal. Therefore, we must utilize any and every method to assure that our patients do not suffer. Because sending a patient home without a proper diagnosis should never be an option.
While it can be frustrating for us to receive a contaminated stool sample, imagine what your embarrassed, weak, sick patient feels like. Reasonably, they begin to doubt that going to the doctor can help them. Then they feel that staying home until it passes is what they should have done. While this might work for some illnesses, with C. diff, staying home can and will result in the death of your patient. Quite literally, they can die from dehydration. Since they will not be able to replace their fluids faster than they are losing them, most importantly, try to imagine how awful those last few days were for your patient. Obtaining a viable specimen is really very simple.
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