Description

The Veterans Health Administration is evaluating the safety and functionality of a variety of commercially available 3D printed nasal swabs for their use in acquiring samples to test for the SARSCoV-2 virus. This test method aims to characterize the bending properties of nasal swabs. Results of this method will determine compliance of the test specimens with functional performance specifications. Due to the limited forces users can apply to swabs in tension and torsion, these loads were not considered to be likely causes of failure and are not covered under this test protocol. However, swabs are often bent within or external to the nasal passage during routine use, so this protocol focuses on bend characterization. Because rotation of the bent swab during sample collection induces fully reversed bending, this protocol also addresses low cycle fatigue failure. Bend radius and angle limits were chosen based on analysis of swab paths in patient CT scans. This protocol tests each swab at 3 locations: 1) thin, flexible neck at the transition to the handle, 2) break point (if present), 3) handle.