Influenza, often called "flu", is an acute respiratory infection caused by the influenza virus, which is highly contagious and spreads mainly through droplets (coughing and sneezing).
The current influenza detection method is the Rapid Influenza Antigen Test, which detects "influenza A" and "influenza B" antigens, and is done by laboratory personnel who take throat swab specimens. In fact, the dry test know that the quality of the specimen is crucial for accurate and reliable results.
Pharyngeal swab specimens collected by the laboratory can avoid many false negatives caused by improperly taken specimens for influenza testing. However, if you think about the image of a small space outside our department filled with coughing children, and a worktable full of rapid flu test panels and bullets, you will wish you had more hands. On the one hand, we have to calm the children's emotions; on the other hand, we have to do the parents' ideological work. There are children who won't let go of the swab, or use their tongues to hold their palates, or move the swab back until my hand can't reach it, or even close their lips tightly for half an hour and refuse to open their mouths ...... when they encounter these "stubborn elements", and then A look at the long queue behind, really will "force" us these acute people to die! Then there is no way, after patient persuasion or not with the sampling, can only trouble parents to do a good job of the child's mind before testing.
Why is the child so uncooperative? First of all, some children cry when they see their aunts in white coats; furthermore, the pharyngeal swabs are irritating and require scraping of the bilateral tonsillar glands, tonsillar fossa and posterior pharyngeal wall with a swab, which can cause extreme discomfort and nausea, at which point we usually reassure the child that "it doesn't hurt to take this, trust me!" The parents on the sidelines also muttered "Oh, it doesn't hurt, cooperate a little, okay?" Even a direct slap over ...... what really feel, who experience who know! In addition, some children have sore throat, swollen pharynx plus fever, making them grumpy and fearful; there is another category is, by other people scared to cry and then also do not cooperate with the examination. In these cases, we still need to patiently communicate with the patient, assist the patient to take the appropriate position, and quickly obtain a qualified sample. In fact, as long as the child cooperates, the pharyngeal swab can be taken in less than a minute.
As for the quality of the samples mentioned above, I think every patient should know: avoid eating within 2 hours before taking the pharyngeal swab to avoid vomiting, and rinse your mouth with water; when taking the pharyngeal swab, tilt your head back and make an "ah" sound, and try not to move your head.
Most of the patients mentioned above are children, but there are also a small number of middle-aged and elderly people who do flu tests. Sometimes, when a patient is in a bad mood, he or she will complain about the staff's lack of standards whenever he or she is uncomfortable when taking a throat swab. Can I say "I'm so hard" here ......
