Urinalysis Sample (Nursing)

00:00 Okay, so we know what our supplies are, we've talked about the sample, now what do we do that you've collected the sample? Well, the patient has voided into a clean urine cup in uncontaminated container. Now, the test strip is dipped into the container for about 2 to 5 seconds. So don't just whoop it right in, put it in, make sure it gets well saturated. You should be able to do that within about 2 to 5 seconds. Then you're going to remove the strip from the sample. Now usually we have a paper towel there that we can kind of dab the strip off in case you have any drips. Make sure you keep your area clean and uncontaminated. So you're going to wait the correct amount of time and compare the dipstick with the color chart provided on the bottle. So you'll see we have up there stopwatch. Right? 30, 60, 120, and and then a little less. That just means we read certain things at 30 seconds, certain other boxes at 60 seconds, and other those little squares at 120 seconds. Now let me explain as we go through. On the next slide, I'm going to show you an example of what a dipstick interpretation key could look like up close this time so you don't have to squint to see it.

01:14 Now, there's also a machine that can interpret this for you. I was at a bedlam lab, an evening clinical lab, it's a free clinic that we offer at the university, and I was doing these by hand because no one told me we have the machine. So it was good to teach everybody how to do that by hand, but it's also way more convenient if you have a machine that can interpret it for you. You dip the stick, dab it off, slide it into the machine, wait a couple of minutes, and your report comes right out. But you don't want to become overdependent on machines. You still need to know how to do this just using your own brain. But for your knowledge, there is a machine that can interpret this for you. Keep in mind you still may need to do this all by yourself without the equipment. Now, the exact color shades on the slide that I'm going to show you next are not what's important. So I don't want you to get too wrapped up and "Oh, I need to remember that this substance is this color or this." No, it may be different with every strip that you use depending on the manufacturer and how many things you're testing on that individual strip. So you always take the strip that you're using the dipstick, and you'll compare it on the key of the actual bottle that you took the strip from. It kind of like when you use a glucometer or a fingerstick blood sugar. You have a control for that bottle of strips. Think of the color pictures as that. You want to use the same color key on the bottle that you took the strip from.