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Urinalysis

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Urinalysis

Definition:

Urinalysis is a physical and/or chemical examination of the urine. It consist of a battery of chemical and microscopic tests to screen for urinary tract infections, renal (kidney) disease, and diseases of other organs that result in the appearance of abnormal metabolites (break-down products) in the urine.

Alternative Names:
Urine appearance and color; Routine urine test

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How the test is performed:

Collect a "clean-catch" (midstream) urine sample. To do so, men or boys should wipe clean the head of the penis. Women or girls need to wash the area between the lips of the vagina with soapy water and rinse well. As you start to urinate, allow a small amount to fall into the toilet bowl (this clears the urethra of contaminants). Then, in a clean container, catch about 1 to 2 ounces of urine, and remove the container from the urine stream. Give the container to the health care provider or assistant.

For an infant:

Thoroughly wash the area around the urethra. Open a urine collection bag (a plastic bag with an adhesive paper on one end), and place it on your infant. For boys, the entire penis can be placed in the bag and the adhesive attached to the skin. For girls, the bag is placed over the labia. Place a diaper over the infant (bag and all).

Check your baby frequently and remove the bag after the infant has urinated into it. For active infants, this procedure may take a couple of attempts -- lively infants can displace the bag, causing an inability to obtain the specimen. The urine is drained into a container for transport back to the health care provider.

The tests should be performed within 15 minutes after the urine is collected. Various tests can be conducted from the sample. Most of the screening urinalysis tests are measured by a reagent "dipstick" which contains little pads of chemicals that change color when they come in contact with the substances of interest. There are several types of reagent strips, and it depends on the type of strip as to what tests can be performed.