As influenza season unfolds, COPAN Diagnostics offers free educational respiratory sample collection videos for healthcare providers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, has reported that 'influenza activity began relatively early compared to recent seasons during the 2012-2013 season'¹. As the 2012-2013 influenza season outbreak unfolds, questions about proper sample collection for respiratory specimens arise.

COPAN Diagnostics, Inc. understands the importance of a sample collected properly and has worked with infection control and point-of-care providers to develop training videos and specific collection guides demonstrating proper technique for collection of respiratory specimens. Among the educational resources produced by Copan Diagnostics, Inc., a set of videos was created for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and The Joint Commission to be used in a web based course on influenza diagnosis and treatment in ambulatory settings for healthcare providers.  The educational videos show proper technique for collecting respiratory specimens for influenza using swabs, aspirates and washes. Demonstrations of Nasal and Nasopharyngeal swab sample collection use FLOQSwabs^TM by Copan and Copan's Universal Transport Media (UTM). Additional videos demonstrate proper technique for Nasal Aspirates and Nasal Washes.