How to collect a stool sample
Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.
A good stool sample is free of urine and toilet water.
Step by step
Explain
Collect in a clean container or hat in the toilet. [1]
Avoid contamination
Urinate first; no toilet paper or water in the sample. [1]
Transfer
Gloves, spatula, the amount the lab requires. [1]
Label
Identifiers, date and time. [2]
Send
Within the time limit, per test. [1]
Precautions
Contact precautions if infection is suspected. [3]
Common errors
- Urine in the sample.
- Late delivery.
- No contact precautions for diarrhea.
Practice it in Making Synapses
In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.
Making Synapses cases that train this skill
- Child with diarrhea and dehydration
- Fecal impaction
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Mesenteric ischemia
- Acute diarrhea
18 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library
Sources
- Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)
- The Joint Commission, National Patient Safety Goals
- CDC, Guideline for Isolation Precautions (2007) and PPE sequence
- OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (reference)
Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts and steps also follow OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (reference). Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.