How to Collect a Throat Swab Specimen

Here at Puritan, not only are we passionate about the extensive selection of single-use products we offer, but also in our ability to provide our customers and readers with valuable information.

Medical facilities around the country are faced with patients who present symptoms which could simply be allergies, or could potentially be something more serious like strep throat.

The only way to know for sure is by using proper throat swab collection techniques. To help instruct and inform, we have prepared a step-by-step infographic seen below to serve as a reference for proper throat swab specimen collection using Puritan products.

You can download our throat swab specimen infographic here.

How to Collect a Throat Swab Specimen: 

1. Have the patient tilt their head backwards, open their mouth, and stick out their tongue. Use a wooden tongue depressor to hold tongue in place
2. Without touching side of the mouth, use a sterile flocked swab like HydraFlock #25-3506-H to swab the posterior nasopharynx and tonsillar arches.
3. Insert swab into sterile 1ml of Liquid Amies medium.
4. Break the swab handle at the scored breakpoint line. 
5. Label vial with the appropriate patient information

Want to take this information with you to-go? Download a printer-friendly PDF version here.

For additional questions about which products to order for throat swabbing or other procedures, feel free to contact our helpful product specialists today.