Playing Doctor

My friends, today was a great day because for the first time in my life, I am taking a lab that is somewhat relevant to the rest of my life. I took my first throat culture today. This lab is especially fun because we get to wear white lab coats that make us feel like we are doing more than just culturing bacteria. So anyway, after putting on my lab coat and a fresh pair of nitrile gloves, I stuck a tongue depressor in someone's mouth and stabbed them in the throat with cotton. I thought it would be a lot more difficult, that the tongue was bigger, that I would be able to get it through the tonsils, I don't know, I just thought it would be hard. In reality, there's actually a lot of space to stick this swabber in, and my friend didn't gag too much. From there it is just a fairly simple process of spreading around a specimen on a plate and sending it to the lab to grow over night. Meanwhile, they taught us the little 5-minute diagnostic test, which involves sticking a tester in fluid and stirring for five minutes. This prompted us to wonder...is this really what your doctor is doing when they leave you in the exam room for 20 minutes? Stirring? It seemed a little silly, but in a program that seems to be a lifetime of prerequisites, it was fun to play doctor for a day.