Get Close To The Throat Swab Collector: No Matter How Dangerous It Is, Go Forward Bravely

The diagnosis, cure and discharge of pneumonia patients in COVID-19 are inseparable from nucleic acid detection, and the collection of throat swab is a key step of nucleic acid detection. When patients receive throat swab collection, they need to open their mouths to expose the throat, and the exhaled gases are probably aerosols and droplets containing viruses. As you can imagine, throat swab collectors have high work risks. Lu Dan, Wuhan First Hospital:  Rushing up is an unshirkable responsibility .

“You may want to cough, or you may feel nausea and vomiting. I try to be gentle, please be patient.” Every time before sampling patients, Lu Dan will remind them softly.

Lu Dan, 38, has worked in Wuhan First Hospital for 16 years and is the head nurse of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. There are more than 80 patients in the two wards where Ludan is located. In order to reduce the risk of infection, she and another colleague took the sampling work. “It is an unshirkable responsibility to rush up.” She has sampled more than 300 times. “We used to do throat swab sampling before, but this epidemic is an unknown pathogen. We slowly summed up our experience from scratch.”

It takes an average of 3 minutes for one sampling. However, some patients with poor tolerance need to gargle and rest repeatedly, and the longest sampling took more than 10 minutes. The throat swab is longer than the ordinary cotton swab. Before sampling, the patient should gargle first, and then scrape the throat swab on the back wall of the patient’s throat a few times. “Be careful with your hands and minimize the irritation to the patient’s throat.”

Since January 21, Lu Dan has been working in the isolation ward and is on standby 24 hours a day. As a head nurse, she has to worry about nursing scheduling, three meals a day for patients and medical staff, and material security.

On March 8th, more than 130 patients in the two wards where Lu Dan was located were all discharged from hospital, and she joined the bronchoscope group to carry out bronchoscopy examination and treatment for patients. “The dawn of victory is ahead, I want to stand the last shift. After the epidemic has passed, take a good rest and spend time with your family. ” She said.