I have been thinking a lot about clinical details and urine samples, usually in the middle of the night, when sadly, I do most of my thinking.

So what are “acceptable” Clinical Details for urine samples coming into the laboratory?

Clinical details on urine samples can sometimes be basic, very basic… (all of these listed below can be seen written on request forms from urine samples. Such requests will come into most clinical microbiology laboratories worldwide on a regular basis)

• “?UTI”
• “Follow up urine post treatment, asymptomatic”
• “Positive dipstick”
• “Fatigue 6 months”
• “MSU”
• “Smelly urine in catheter bag”
• “Chest pain”
• “Exclude infection”
• “Cloudy urine catheter bag”
• “Weight loss”

If clinical details were pre-requisite for urine samples, which of the above list would you consider as “appropriate”.

What clinical details one would regard as appropriate is always a little subjective in nature. Therefore my “acceptable” list might be different than yours…..

Insisting on (any) clinical details as a pre-requisite for testing is one thing, and is of course a start. Asking for appropriate clinical details takes the whole process to another level altogether….

It is a difficult area to navigate, but one that we should not avoid because of this.

Michael

If you were taking a tough line on what clinical details are appropriate to justify and optimise microbiology testing of the sample, none of the examples in the above list make it in my book…..