Collecting Urine Specimen

Types of urine specimen collection
1. Clean voided urine specimen (Also called clean catch or midstream urine specimen)
2. Sterile urine specimen
3. Timed urine specimen

• It is two types
Short period → 1-2 hours
Long period → 24 hours

Purpose
• For diagnostic purposes
  - Routine laboratory analysis and culture and sensitivity tests

Equipments Required
• Disposable gloves
• Specimen container
• Laboratory requisition form (Completely filled)
• Water and soap or cotton balls and antiseptic solutions (swabs).

For patients confined
• Urine receptacles (i.e. bedpan or urinals)
• Bed protecting materials
• Screen (if required)

Procedure
For ambulatory patients
Give adequate instruction to the patient about
• The purpose and method of taking specimen
• Assist the patient to move to the toilet

For patient confined in bed
1. Prepare the patient unit providing privacy
2. Prepare the patient
• Put on gloves
• Place bed protecting materials under patient's hips
• Assist the patient to position in bed and in positioning the receptacles
• Assist the patient or clean the vulva or penis thoroughly using soap and water or antiseptic swabs (Follow the steps of giving and receiving bed pan/urinal and cleaning the genitalia)

3. Obtain urine specimen
• Ask patient to void
• Let the initial part of the voiding passed into the receptacle (bed pan or urinal) then pass the next part (the midstream) into the specimen container.
• Hold the vulva or penis apart from the specimen container while the patient voids to decrease urine contamination.
• Don't allow the container to touch body parts
• Collect about 30-60 ml midstream urine
• Handle the outside parts of the container and put on the cover tightly on specimen container
• Clean the outside parts of the container with cotton if spillage occurs
• Remove the glove

4. Recomfort the patient

5. Care of the specimen and the equipment
• Handle and label the container correctly
• Send the urine specimen to the laboratory immediately together with the completed laboratory requested forms
• Empty the receptacles content properly
• Give appropriate care for the used equipments

6. Document pertinent data and report, such as
• Specimen collected, amount, time and date.
• Consistency of the urine
• Patients experience during voiding

Sterile urine specimen 
collected using a catheter in aseptic techniques (The whole discussion for this procedure presented on the catheterization part)