Since when is strep throat swabbed in the NOSE??

[Italianprincess]

I had to take my 3 year old son to the hospital where I work for a rapid strep test the other day. I am a nurse on the Pedi unit but we got the test down in Outpatient. He was actually have Flu, RSV, and Strep tested. She swabbed each side of his nose and told me that the doctor's office would call me when they had results. I asked her if she was going to swab him for Strep and she said she did. I questioned the fact that she swabbed the nose and strep is in the throat. She told me that she did it correctly. I made some calls and we got it done...correctly. I wonder what would have happened if I had not been a nurse and didn't know the difference. The scariest part of the whole mess is that I think she was a nurse!

[G'smommy]

That really stinks. I can't stand bad nurses. I'm glad you got it fixed.

[RNmom08]

We don't swab for RSV. We do a nasal washing where we use saline drops in the nose and then bulb suction the fluid out. I cannot tell you how many times that a patient came from the clinic with what they told us was a negative RSV swab and then we repeat the RSV only do a nasal wash and - they are positive for RSV.

[tracylmartin38]

Hey there, she may not have been a nurse. I work at a peds clinic, and know for a fact that some doctor's primary nurses are not actually nurses. They are not even licensed at all!! Now most are, but in my clinic, one peds nurse is not. It confuses me.....

[pink85]

My peds office does not have an LVN or an RN. One time I took my children in for yearly exams and the MA did a hearing screening. Instead of doing all three tones she only did the lowest one. She said that if they can hear the lowest one they can hear them all. I had to correct her and tell her that is NOT true. I am certified to do hearing screenings, apparently she was not, and you can have hearing loss at diffenent levels, some high tones and some low and she better screen my kids for all! I do not think these docs realize what they are doing to their practice by not having a licensed person..... and they refer to her as the nurse.

[Smurfette752, BSN]

That is awful....I'm glad you are an RN and knew what was supposed to be done!

[comm]

Since your baby was being tested for RSV and Influenza, these are both tested by nasal swabbing. Streptococcus is a rare thing for your baby to have, but it is also shed by nasal secretions. While it is true that most of the time the testing is done via a throat swabbing some places use nasal swabs as well. Especially since sometimes it can be hard to "convince" children under 5 to open their mouths.

I think its important to get all the facts before we, as a nursing community condemn our fellow health care workers.

References:

Marcie, J., (2007). Babies First Year. New York, NY., Sterling publishing. pg 495

CDC. Seasonal Influenza. Retrieved @ http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/diagnosis/labprocedures.htm

I am also an RN in a hospital so I spoke to several of the lab staff directly regarding this.