Urine collection brought up to date

Urinalysis is undoubtedly one of the very oldest laboratory tests, first used by the
Babylonians in 4000 BC, then developed by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates in 500 BC, who studied its colour and appearance to help diagnose a patient. Since these ancient times, scientists in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries have brought urine microbiological diagnosis out of the dark ages, culminating in present-day high-throughput platforms that dramatically reduce time spent on urinalysis, as well as other conventional microbiological methods of testing. 

It is a shame, then, that urine sampling techniques have not seen the same levels of advance in the UK. In fact, some might question if a 2-cm wide universal container is any improvement at all, bearing in mind urine collection is mostly a self-sampling technique, often asked of sick or elderly patients. So, is spillage or contamination waiting to happen? Now, there is a modern urine collection system that will provide full compliance with the latest urinalysis analysers and also synergy with patients. 

The aptly named Vacutest uses evacuated primary sampling tubes, compatible with most if not all urinalysis workstations, and enables urine to be collected easily and safely from the patient into a 6-cm wide-mouth container (three times the diameter of a standard 30-mL universal container), and from there sampled straight into the appropriate analyser tube for direct or further analysis in the laboratory. Figure 1 shows an evacuated tube ‘docked’ with the special cap of the specimen, while Figure2 shows the collection device ‘straw’ used to transfer urine from conventional specimen containers to the primary tube.