CF Culture Results

[Ratatosk]

<P>DS had a respiratory culture done a week ago Tuesday.  I've mentioned this before that the results come in wayyyy to soon.  Last summer, I think it was only a day or two.  </P>
<P> </P>
<P>Yesterday I received the "final culture results in the mail".  Culture received at the lab at 17:42 -- final culture results 7:43 the next morning.  Now I KNOW that's wayyyy to soon and I'm planning to call the doctor's office to say "what the heck", but how long is long enough?   The nurse thought I should be thrilled with Normal Respiratory Flora results; however, initial finds were gram positive and negative, cocci, many wbc....  And then a final showing normal?  </P>
<P> </P>
<P>I'm assuming the original culture had pretty much been destroyed and we go to the clinic in the City next month, so his CF doctor can order a culture for him there.  But IMO we need to stress to the local CF doctor that less than 24 hours is not enough time for a decent culture.</P>

 

[Ratatosk]

<P>DS had a respiratory culture done a week ago Tuesday. I've mentioned this before that the results come in wayyyy to soon. Last summer, I think it was only a day or two. </P>
<P></P>
<P>Yesterday I received the "final culture results in the mail". Culture received at the lab at 17:42 -- final culture results 7:43 the next morning. Now I KNOW that's wayyyy to soon and I'm planning to call the doctor's office to say "what the heck", but how long is long enough? The nurse thought I should be thrilled with Normal Respiratory Flora results; however, initial finds were gram positive and negative, cocci, many wbc.... And then a final showing normal? </P>
<P></P>
<P>I'm assuming the original culture had pretty much been destroyed and we go to the clinic in the City next month, so his CF doctor can order a culture for him there. But IMO we need to stress to the local CF doctor that less than 24 hours is not enough time for a decent culture.</P>

 

[Ratatosk]

<P><BR>DS had a respiratory culture done a week ago Tuesday. I've mentioned this before that the results come in wayyyy to soon. Last summer, I think it was only a day or two. </P>
<P></P>
<P>Yesterday I received the "final culture results in the mail". Culture received at the lab at 17:42 -- final culture results 7:43 the next morning. Now I KNOW that's wayyyy to soon and I'm planning to call the doctor's office to say "what the heck", but how long is long enough? The nurse thought I should be thrilled with Normal Respiratory Flora results; however, initial finds were gram positive and negative, cocci, many wbc.... And then a final showing normal? </P>
<P></P>
<P>I'm assuming the original culture had pretty much been destroyed and we go to the clinic in the City next month, so his CF doctor can order a culture for him there. But IMO we need to stress to the local CF doctor that less than 24 hours is not enough time for a decent culture.</P>

 

[hmw]

Gram pos and neg and cocci turning into 'normal'? Yeah, right. *eyeroll* Less than 18hrs is not enough to even get preliminary results, imo, nevermind a final report. We don't get preliminaries for about 2 days and final reports take about a week to grow out. I guess if that's a long time compared to some, I'll be glad if it's in the interest of being thorough.

Is the dr ordering the culture to be grown out with cf protocol? I wonder if it's not being coded correctly and that's why you always get it back so quickly.

 

[hmw]

Gram pos and neg and cocci turning into 'normal'? Yeah, right. *eyeroll* Less than 18hrs is not enough to even get preliminary results, imo, nevermind a final report. We don't get preliminaries for about 2 days and final reports take about a week to grow out. I guess if that's a long time compared to some, I'll be glad if it's in the interest of being thorough.

Is the dr ordering the culture to be grown out with cf protocol? I wonder if it's not being coded correctly and that's why you always get it back so quickly.

 

[hmw]

Gram pos and neg and cocci turning into 'normal'? Yeah, right. *eyeroll* Less than 18hrs is not enough to even get preliminary results, imo, nevermind a final report. We don't get preliminaries for about 2 days and final reports take about a week to grow out. I guess if that's a long time compared to some, I'll be glad if it's in the interest of being thorough.
<br />
<br />Is the dr ordering the culture to be grown out with cf protocol? I wonder if it's not being coded correctly and that's why you always get it back so quickly.

 

[2roses]

Liza,
This doesn't add up to me either! We always get a quick preliminary result of cultures showing normal flora and then usually gram negative, and then we have to wait up to 5 days for a final read. I've never heard of a final read in the timeframe you're indicating, especially if there are other goodies growing besides normal resp flora. We may see updates to the results along the way. My girls routinely culture PA rough and mucoid, so I'm always looking for the final to get the count (4+ on down) and the sensitivities (what antibiotics are effective against the bugs). You're right to push the issue with your CF doctor because this type of culture needs more time to grow out.

 

[2roses]

Liza,
This doesn't add up to me either! We always get a quick preliminary result of cultures showing normal flora and then usually gram negative, and then we have to wait up to 5 days for a final read. I've never heard of a final read in the timeframe you're indicating, especially if there are other goodies growing besides normal resp flora. We may see updates to the results along the way. My girls routinely culture PA rough and mucoid, so I'm always looking for the final to get the count (4+ on down) and the sensitivities (what antibiotics are effective against the bugs). You're right to push the issue with your CF doctor because this type of culture needs more time to grow out.

 

[2roses]

Liza,
<br />This doesn't add up to me either! We always get a quick preliminary result of cultures showing normal flora and then usually gram negative, and then we have to wait up to 5 days for a final read. I've never heard of a final read in the timeframe you're indicating, especially if there are other goodies growing besides normal resp flora. We may see updates to the results along the way. My girls routinely culture PA rough and mucoid, so I'm always looking for the final to get the count (4+ on down) and the sensitivities (what antibiotics are effective against the bugs). You're right to push the issue with your CF doctor because this type of culture needs more time to grow out.

 

[Ratatosk]

I know when we first went to the local CF clinic the pulmonologist was angry because the cultures that day were done incorrectly; however, DS' still cultured pseudo. Last week I saw the orders the doctor typed up for the culture and it said cystic fibrosis respiratory culture -- he's DS' pediatrician, but is also head of the CF clinic. So I would HOPE he'd know proper protocol, but that maybe the lab dropped the ball; however, this seems to be the norm lately.

In the past DS would go to the RT department and they'd do the culture, try to get him to do a sputum culture, but usually ended up doing a throat culture instead being DS usually doesn't have anything to hack up. And I know we waited at least a week or two before we got those results.


This past summer I did question the nurse who called with the results two days after the culture with final results of normal flora, wondering if a final result was possible being it was less than 48 hours from the time the sample was taken. She just thought I should be happy it was normal, as if I was looking for something to be wrong.

DH said he'd call the clinic and complain, but he wanted a timeframe in terms of what's appropriate. Being that the culture is I'm sure long gone, it's pretty much a moot point and we'll just haev to stress NEXT time that the cultures need to brew quite a bit longer.

 

[Ratatosk]

I know when we first went to the local CF clinic the pulmonologist was angry because the cultures that day were done incorrectly; however, DS' still cultured pseudo. Last week I saw the orders the doctor typed up for the culture and it said cystic fibrosis respiratory culture -- he's DS' pediatrician, but is also head of the CF clinic. So I would HOPE he'd know proper protocol, but that maybe the lab dropped the ball; however, this seems to be the norm lately.

In the past DS would go to the RT department and they'd do the culture, try to get him to do a sputum culture, but usually ended up doing a throat culture instead being DS usually doesn't have anything to hack up. And I know we waited at least a week or two before we got those results.


This past summer I did question the nurse who called with the results two days after the culture with final results of normal flora, wondering if a final result was possible being it was less than 48 hours from the time the sample was taken. She just thought I should be happy it was normal, as if I was looking for something to be wrong.

DH said he'd call the clinic and complain, but he wanted a timeframe in terms of what's appropriate. Being that the culture is I'm sure long gone, it's pretty much a moot point and we'll just haev to stress NEXT time that the cultures need to brew quite a bit longer.

 

[Ratatosk]

I know when we first went to the local CF clinic the pulmonologist was angry because the cultures that day were done incorrectly; however, DS' still cultured pseudo. Last week I saw the orders the doctor typed up for the culture and it said cystic fibrosis respiratory culture -- he's DS' pediatrician, but is also head of the CF clinic. So I would HOPE he'd know proper protocol, but that maybe the lab dropped the ball; however, this seems to be the norm lately.
<br />
<br />In the past DS would go to the RT department and they'd do the culture, try to get him to do a sputum culture, but usually ended up doing a throat culture instead being DS usually doesn't have anything to hack up. And I know we waited at least a week or two before we got those results.
<br />
<br />
<br />This past summer I did question the nurse who called with the results two days after the culture with final results of normal flora, wondering if a final result was possible being it was less than 48 hours from the time the sample was taken. She just thought I should be happy it was normal, as if I was looking for something to be wrong.
<br />
<br />DH said he'd call the clinic and complain, but he wanted a timeframe in terms of what's appropriate. Being that the culture is I'm sure long gone, it's pretty much a moot point and we'll just haev to stress NEXT time that the cultures need to brew quite a bit longer.

 

[cgerhardt]

We always have to wait a week to get results.

 

[cgerhardt]

We always have to wait a week to get results.

 

[cgerhardt]

We always have to wait a week to get results.

 

[ymikhale]

We never get any results before 72 hours. After that they leave it for I think 14 days to check for fungi. Once a year they grow it I think for 21 days (not sure what they check for). I am in Europe though, not sure what the protocol is in the US

 

[ymikhale]

We never get any results before 72 hours. After that they leave it for I think 14 days to check for fungi. Once a year they grow it I think for 21 days (not sure what they check for). I am in Europe though, not sure what the protocol is in the US

 

[ymikhale]

We never get any results before 72 hours. After that they leave it for I think 14 days to check for fungi. Once a year they grow it I think for 21 days (not sure what they check for). I am in Europe though, not sure what the protocol is in the US

 

[thekidsarealright]

Hi there! I'm taking microbiology this semester (I also have a daughter w/CF). In our lab at school, after inoculation, incubation periods are ALWAYS 24-48 hours, and depending on other tests to determine the bacteria's genus/species, it can take up to 72 hours. K. pneuminiae takes 72 hours to come up positive when conducting a Urease test. If the lab is only going by gram's, it will take at least a 24 hr incubation, but with that, there's no genus or species. Gram staining tells you what gram and if it's rod (bacillus) or coccus and that's ALL. Other tests have to be conducted after gram-staining to determine what the bug, if any, is.
The lab messed up on the culture.

 

[thekidsarealright]

Hi there! I'm taking microbiology this semester (I also have a daughter w/CF). In our lab at school, after inoculation, incubation periods are ALWAYS 24-48 hours, and depending on other tests to determine the bacteria's genus/species, it can take up to 72 hours. K. pneuminiae takes 72 hours to come up positive when conducting a Urease test. If the lab is only going by gram's, it will take at least a 24 hr incubation, but with that, there's no genus or species. Gram staining tells you what gram and if it's rod (bacillus) or coccus and that's ALL. Other tests have to be conducted after gram-staining to determine what the bug, if any, is.
The lab messed up on the culture.