Great Debates & Updates: Culturing with the Intent to Treat

Saturday, October 15, 2022

2:10 PM – 2:35 PM PDT

Location: Milano I-III

Moderator(s)

Susie Seaman, NP, MSN, CWCN, CWS

Nurse Practitioner
Wound Clinic, Family Health Centers of San Diego
San Diego, CA

PDF Slides

Speaker(s)

Dot M. Weir, RN, CWON, CWS

Clinician
Saratoga Hospital Wound Healing
Gansevoort, New York

PDF Slides
Lisa Q. Corbett, DNP, APRN, CWOCN

System Clinical Director, Wound Programs
Hartford HealthCare
Hartford, CT

PDF Slides

The diagnosis of wound infection is made clinically, based on signs and symptoms that a patient has, or non-healing despite the best care. Although empiric antibiotics are started on a patient with a wound infection, cultures are also obtained to guide antibiotic therapy moving forward. How should a culture be taken to optimally identify infecting bacteria? Experts will debate the best way to obtain a culture and how these cultures are done and interpreted – quantitative biopsy vs. optimal swab culture. Data will be reviewed to justify each method. Then you decide which method is best for your patients!

Learning Objectives:

Discuss when and why wound cultures are obtained.
Discuss the pros and cons of quantitative tissue biopsy vs. wound swab for identifying infecting bacteria.
Review how to interpret the results of quantitative tissue biopsies and swab cultures.