How to Ship a Stool Sample

It is not difficult to ship a stool sample, but there are very specific requirements associated with doing so. If you don't follow these requirements precisely, the receiver of the sample may not be able to use it. To ensure that you only have to produce and ship a stool sample once, follow these steps very carefully.

Things You'll Need

• Collection tray
• Disposable spoon
• Vial
• Manila bubble-wrap mailing envelope
• Frozen ice pack
• Adhesive label
• Pen or marker
• Plastic zip-close bag

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Instructions

• 1

  Produce the stool on the collection tray.

• 2

  Use the disposable spoon to scoop the stool into a vial. Do not allow urine or water to touch the sample, if it is being sent to a laboratory that has such requirements.

• 3

  Close the vial.

• 4

  Write your name, address, phone number, date of stool collection and any other relevant information on an adhesive label. Place the label on the vial.

• 5

  Place the sealed, labelled vial into a plastic zip-close bag.

• 6

  Place the frozen ice pack into the manila bubble-wrap mailing envelope. Place the zip-close bag containing the vial in the center of the mailing envelope.

• 7

  Seal the package.

• 8

  Mail the package using overnight delivery. Mail it on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday; if you mail it any time after that, you risk the package arriving over the weekend, in which case it will not be attended to until the following Monday.