Medical Assistant Prep / Unit 17 MAS 421 review, 2 to 3 minutes
Teaching Two Home Collections
The idea
This case is constructed for this course. It shows a medical assistant teaching a patient to collect two specimens correctly, one in the office today and one at home over the coming days, so that neither has to be repeated.
In practice
The provider orders a clean-catch urine specimen today and a fecal occult blood test to be done at home. The medical assistant labels the urine container and gives the patient a cleansing wipe. She explains the steps in order: wash your hands, clean the area as shown, start urinating into the toilet, then catch the middle of the stream in the cup without touching its inside. She asks the patient to repeat the steps back, and he confuses the order of cleaning and starting. She goes over it again until he has it right. The sample he returns is properly collected. Next, she labels the occult blood test card before giving it to him, so it cannot leave the office unlabeled. She shows him how to take samples from two different parts of the stool and smear each thinly on its own square. She also reviews the lab's written instructions with him, including how to store the card and when to return it. Last, she documents what was collected in the office and what was sent home, and she notes that the instructions were given.
Where people slip
Specimen quality is mostly decided before collection starts. Labeling first, and checking understanding with a repeat-back, prevented two common failures: a contaminated urine sample and an unlabeled card. Neither failure would have been the patient's fault, and either one would have meant asking the patient to come back and collect again.
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