Urinalysis and Samples (Nursing)

00:00 Hi! Welcome to our video series on interpreting lab values.

00:05 In this one, I'm going to go through a not so glamorous but really important test.

00:10 We're going to dive into urine visual and chemical exam.

00:14 Now first of all you a is just a generic screening test that can check for markers in the urine.

00:20 Now don't be fooled by this humble test.

00:23 It looks generic, which it is, but we can learn a lot about your patient.

00:29 In fact, it gives us a snapshot of their overall health.

00:33 I had an instructor that used to say if we can get a UA and a CBC we can get right up into your business and figure out what's going on in your body and they were right.

00:43 See from a UA, I can tell about a patient's hydration status.

00:46 I can check on their diabetes.

00:48 I can check on kidney damage or UTI.

00:50 Keeping look at all of this on a UA.

00:54 So let me show you how you do that.

00:56 Now a complete urinalysis includes a physical exam, a chemical exam and a microscopic exam.

01:03 Now I'm not exactly talking about the patient.

01:05 I've talking about a physical exam of the urine, a chemical exam of the urine and a microscopic exam of the urine.

01:14 That's a complete urine analysis.

01:17 I can also do a dipstick urinalysis.

01:19 Now it's a lot more convenient because I just take a piece of paper that has special papers with chemicals on it.

01:26 I dip it into the urine dry it off and then I compared the color changes to the key on the valve.

01:33 So this one is more convenient, but it's also can give me a false positive and false negative.

01:38 So it's not as accurate.

01:40 So if i'm doing a complete urinalysis It's not as convenient, but it is more accurate.

01:45 Dipstick, I can give it a lot quicker, but it's not as accurate and its results.

01:51 Now a clean catch midstream sample can also be used but remember if you're getting one of these from your patients you want to make sure it's examined within 2 hours of collecting the sample.

02:02 Okay so we're talking about UA, I could do a complete urine analysis.

02:07 I can do a dipstick urine analysis and we're just talking about the type of sample.

02:12 If you have a clean catch or a midstream sample, make sure you use it within two hours it is evaluated.

02:19 Wow, that's a lot of information.

02:22 I got to tell you, when I'm first learning something and I see all these words on a page, my eyes just glaze over my brain can't process that.

02:32 So if you're on this, yay for you, but if you're like the rest of us mere mortals.

02:38 I'm going to show you how you break this down and what you look at.

02:41 So right now just enjoy it.

02:43 Look at all the information we can get from a regular urine analysis.

02:48 I'm going to walk you through each section.

02:51 Now in this one, you look at this.

02:52 You see I've got a little red highlight there for you to let you know that you've got blood.

02:57 Now the reference range should be negative, but I happen to have some red blood cells and so they did a microscopic exam.

03:05 I'm going to introduce you to that topic again a little bit later.

03:08 But as you become proficient in this, you're going to take a look at these results and be able to zero in right away on what the abnormal is.

03:17 Not yet but stick with us and you'll be able to do that like a pro.