Wichita Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing on How Cultures for Chronic Wounds are Obtained

Chronic wounds are one of the largest issues affecting seniors. Wound care costs in this country exceed $25 billion every year, and it’s a growing problem since over 11 million seniors in America are living with diabetes.

One of the unpleasant side effects of diabetes is that it’s easy to develop wounds called pressure ulcers, usually on the feet. These can lead to lengthy hospital stays, an increased risk of sepsis, and amputation of the limb. If an infection is present, obtaining a culture of the wound is a good way to diagnose the infection and come up with a treatment plan.

Wichita Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation would like to go over three ways that a wound culture can be obtained.

1. Deep-tissue (Punch) Biopsy

This is a standard method to identify and diagnose an infection. However, they are invasive, painful, and not available everywhere. Or, better said, they may not be available because not everyone is trained to do them.

2. Needle Aspiration

This way of obtaining a wound culture is used more for puncture wounds and postsurgical areas where an abscess is suspected. The needle will collect fluid from the wound for testing. This also cannot be performed if exudate – the fluid that has seeped out of blood vessels or an organ – isn’t present.

3. Swab Culture

A swab culture is the most common method of obtaining world cultures because it’s inexpensive, noninvasive, and can be performed by a wide range of health professionals. The only downside is that it sometimes yields false-positive results, so depending on your situation, a deep-tissue biopsy may be ordered to confirm the presence of an infection.