The nurse determines that the client’s wound may be infected. To perfo

The nurse determines that the client’s wound may be infected. To perform an aerobic wound culture, the nurse should:

1. Collect the superficial drainage
2. Collect the culture before cleansing the wound
3. Obtain a culturette tube and use sterile technique
4. Use the same technique as for collecting an anaerobic culture

ANSWER

ANS: 3
The nurse uses different methods of specimen collection for aerobic or anaerobic organisms.
To collect an aerobic wound culture, the nurse uses a sterile swab from a culturette tube and ster-ile technique. The nurse never collects a wound culture sample from old or superficial drainage. Resident colonies of bacteria from the skin grow in superficial drainage and may not be the true causative organisms of a wound infection. The nurse should clean a wound first with normal sa-line to remove skin flora before obtaining the culture.