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Discussion

A question about specimens...

Hello Everyone-

My father has just been diagnosed with Colon Cancer. He was hospitalized in July for COPD and has been getting various tests and referrals to various physicians. The doctors were so focused on his lungs that I made sure that he used the incentive spirometer, took his Spiriva handihaler, ate healthy foods and did at least twenty minutes of walking each day. I am a new grad RN and have been trying my best to nurse him back to health. He smoked two packs a day and was a heavy drinker for 45+ years but has not smoked or had a drop of alcohol since the day he was admitted to the hospital. While he was there, he had an allergic medication to two medications. During the night, a nurse collected a stool specimen which looked like it had been there for hours. I asked the nurse if she was aware that there was a stool specimen that needed to be sent to the lab, the nurse responded yes, it has been there since early this morning and I will send it now. I always thought that specimens had to be sent in a timely manner. We went to the surgeon today and I asked about this topic and his response was it does not matter when the specimen would be sent because it will not show any signs of cancer. Is this true? I always thought you needed to send the specimen within 1-2 hours after collecting it, not 5-6 hours after. How much information could you collect if you left it that long?

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    Depends upon what the specimen was looking for. Blood, for example, isn't going to change over time or exposure to air.

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    • Author

    Sorry, I am inquiring about stool specimens...

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    Depends upon what the specimen was looking for. Blood, for example, isn't going to change over time or exposure to air.

    I.e., occult blood in the stool.

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    I know if it's a stool specimen for R/O C diff they want it sent ASAP or refrigerated until you can send it.

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    My understanding was that for bacterial cultures they should be sent off ASAP to get an accurate representation of the bacterial populations before they grew too much.

    But yes for things like occult, time elapse shouldn't matter.

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    There was a program here (Canada), where people could send in their stool samples by mail to check for occult blood. It was part of a colon cancer screening program. So I don't think stool samples need to be sent in right away!

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    I.e., occult blood in the stool.

    Yes, thank you. OP, I meant that if they were testing for something like blood in the stool, time shouldn't affect the results.

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