Stool sample for Micro class?????

MB37 · Sep 11, 2008

We had to bring things in from home, but not stool specimens! One week we were all supposed to bring something we thought might be dirty to culture - I think I brought a piece of raw vegetable from the cafeteria salad bar - but nope, no poop where I took it. Obviously, nurses deal with poop all the time (with gloves on of course), but don't you take micro as a prerequisite? Meaning you have the class with many people who aren't pre-nursing?

pinkiepie_RN · Sep 11, 2008

We were informed last night in our Micro lab that next week we will be taking home specimen cups to collect samples of our stool for the following week's lab. This is a departmental requirement, not just something my instructor wants to do. We were all pretty squicked out about it, but I just told myself, "you gotta do what you gotta do."
Well, this morning I told people I know about it, and everyone is absolutely horrified that I have to do this! :chuckle Even other people who have taken Micro before are shocked. Did anyone else have to do this? Is this a common lab for pre-nursing students? Or do I go to a school staffed by poop freaks? :chuckle

o.O That's kinda weird. I've never heard of that before and I will say that poop still kinda grosses me out as a senior nursing student. Is this microbiology class through your biology department or through the nursing department? It sounds like something a nursing instructor would do . It will be interesting to see if anyone else here has had to do that.

msjack · Sep 11, 2008

We definitely never had to do that. That does seem a bit odd. I really wouldn't want to know what my friend/classmate's poop looks like. What are you all doing with it? What kind of testing? It's different in the hospital, because most likely you don't know the person who's poop you are dealing with. I don't think I would want to do that. We got to prick our fingers and do blood tests and stuff, but no poop.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Sep 11, 2008

I dunno if I could do that without the right infection protection equipment. I mean, what if someone lost their specimen? Are you supposed to refrigerate it till the class day? I would expect further instructions to protect others. After all, this stuff wasn't designed to hang out for a week in a fridge and then get poked at by curious students.

Flames9_RN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Sep 11, 2008

Yep we had to do that in micro!! Didn't actually have to bring in the stool, but after doing the 'business" we had to put some of that dirty water into a container! Personally whats the big deal, you put gloves on, scoop up some water/stool! I would say only about half the class did it, the prof was not pleased, and she was a very easy going person. can't recall if she docked off marks for thos that didnt participate!

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Sep 11, 2008

We collected our own "Unknowns" for the semester, our instructor said we were free to collect samples from anywhere on our bodies if we wanted to... but we were never required to bring in samples...I think it sounds inappropriate

kat von b · Sep 11, 2008

We never had to do that!! That seems a bit extreme for a basic micro class. I could see if it was an advanced level class. I'm curious as to how many people in your class actually do it.

Do you lose a lot of points if you don't?

HopefulRN2010 · Sep 11, 2008

We didn't have to take a stool sample. We did have to provide urine samples. They had the cups waiting on us when we got into the lab. And I thought that was wierd!

Xbox Live Addict · Sep 11, 2008

We were informed last night in our Micro lab that next week we will be taking home specimen cups to collect samples of our stool for the following week's lab. This is a departmental requirement, not just something my instructor wants to do. We were all pretty squicked out about it, but I just told myself, "you gotta do what you gotta do."
Well, this morning I told people I know about it, and everyone is absolutely horrified that I have to do this! :chuckle Even other people who have taken Micro before are shocked. Did anyone else have to do this? Is this a common lab for pre-nursing students? Or do I go to a school staffed by poop freaks? :chuckle

I have heard of microbiology professors that had students bring in stool and urine samples for lab, but I did not have to do this myself. We used specimens prepared by the professor for class, and even cultured microbes drawn from the air.

A physician wrote one time in a book of a medical school where the dean, on the very first day of class for a group of first-year students, provided each student a cup and had them go to the restroom to void into the cup. When the students returned bearing their specimens, he gave a lecture on how medical practice would demand that they use all five of their senses in evaluating their patients, then instructed the students to do exactly as he did. He dipped a finger in his specimen cup and then put a finger in his mouth. The students dipped their fingers into their specimen cups and put the fingers they had dipped into their urine into their mouths, many of them pretty grossed out as you may imagine. The professor's response? "You have learned your first lesson about observation. I put my pinkie finger in the specimen cup, and my index finger in my mouth."

I don't know whether this is a true story or not, but even dipping my bare hands into my own urine would not have been a savory concept, and I wonder if this little lesson would have prompted complaints to Administration. Also, I wonder if any of the students were embarrassed for everyone else to see their urine. I do UAs all day, and if a person's really dehydrated or if a woman is on her period, it is _NOT_ pretty....

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2008

We also had to bring in urine samples.

sharkdiver · Sep 11, 2008

You could always throw them a curve and get a contribution from the neighbor's dog.....:D:D