The nurse is caring for a patient who is recovering from a ventral hernia repair and has developed a fever.New orders have been given to obtain a sputum culture.Which of the following actions should the nurse take before collecting the specimen?
A)Move the patient to a private room and initiate isolation precautions.
B)Assist the patient to perform oral hygiene.
C)Obtain a clean specimen cup for collection.
D)Ask all visitors to don a mask.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Before collecting a sputum culture, the nurse should assist the patient in performing oral hygiene to decrease the risk of contamination from bacteria that are normally present in the mouth. The other options are not necessary for collecting a sputum culture in this situation. Isolation precautions would only be necessary if the patient had a highly contagious infection. A clean specimen cup would be obtained by standard protocol for any specimen collection, and visitors wearing masks would only be necessary if the patient had a highly contagious respiratory infection.

The Nurse Is Caring for a Patient Who Is Recovering