Question

1. A newly recruited health assistant staff brought a urine, blood and stool sample to the laboratory. Upon inspection of the laboratory request of the laboratory request, you realized it had not been filled. Explain to the newly health personnel why each of the provision on a laboratory request form is important and why samples cannot be received.

2. You are the only laboratory staff on duty at a parasitology department. You have just received a stool and urine samples of the same patient from a nurse, with a request for stool R/E, urine R/E. explain how you will process these two samples to be ready for microscopy from the time of collection.

3. Discuss the difference in the principle of measuring blood glucose levels using a glucometer and the colorimetric methods.

4. In the collaborative spirit at the holistic well-being of patients, it is advisable that the laboratory scientist works as a team with with the physician and other hospital staff. A patient reports to the laboratory with a second stool specimen and the a request form from the physician after the previous laboratory microscopy showed no parasite presence. It is indicated in the patient complain session of the form; “Peri-anal”. Answer the following questions

1. Is the time of stool production necessary?(explain)
2. Is the stool specimen appropriate for the suspected agent? (explain)
3. What will you recommend differently if you had to advise the physician?
4. What do you suspect could be wrong with the patient. (name the major documented causative agent for the symptom/sign under discussion)

Answer 1

Explanation to the new health personnel on sample receiving and purpose of the requisition form:

• Sample requisition form contains biodata of the patient, registration number, type of test to be done, date and time of collecting the sample which are crucial and inevitable in accepting the form. A sample without a request form must not be accepted as this may cause errors while reporting the results.

Difference between colourimeter and glucometer

• Colorimeter analyse the level of glucose in a sample of blood plasma through reaction of glucose oxidase that is due to the absorbance value of the solution that absorbs the monochromatic light. A glucose solution is added to the reagent agent and kept in incubator at 37 degree celsius. Once the purple color is visible, it is inserted into the colorimeter with monochromatic light and later the results are detected using the absorbance value.
• In glucometer, patients are asked to take a sample from a finger and is placed on a strip. This strip contains chemical reagents that reacts with blood glucose that display the result on the screen within 20 seconds.

Perianal swab:

a. sample has to be taken early in morning, patient must not be in treatment with antihelminthics and must be taken before defecation.

b. Stool specimen is not appropriate but perianal swab must be taken using cellophane tape.

c. Perianal swab must be advised for this client to get causative agent

d. Perianal samples have to be tested for pinworms