24 Hour Urine collection patient instructions
Instruct the patient on collection of the specimen as follows.
1. When you get up in the morning, empty your bladder into the toilet just as you normally do. In
other words, this urine is not to be saved. Make a note of what time it is, and write the date and
start time in the appropriate space on the label of the container.
2. The next time you need to urinate, void in the collecting container and then pour the urine into
the large wide-mouthed specimen container.
3. Procedural Step. Tightly screw the lid onto the 24-hour specimen container, and put the
container in your refrigerator or into an ice chest.
4. Procedural Step. Repeat steps 4 and 5 each time you urinate.
5. Procedural Step. Emphasize the importance of the following to the patient:
a. The urine must be stored only in the designated container.
b. Collect all of the urine during the 24-hour period, including urine that you void if you get up
during the night. The information this test provides would be inaccurate if any urine from the
24-hour period does not go into the container.
c. Urinate into the collection container before having a bowel movement to avoid losing urine
you might pass during the bowel movement.
d. The collection must be started again from the beginning if any of the following occurs:
• You forget to collect the urine when you void.
• You spill some urine from the collection container.
• Your urine becomes contaminated with stool from a bowel movement.
• The child wets the bed (if the specimen is being obtained from a child).
• You go beyond the 24-hour collection period and collect too much urine.
6. On the following morning, get up and void at the same time (exactly 24 hours after beginning
the test). Void into the collection container for the last time and pour the urine into the large
specimen container.
7. Put the lid on the specimen container tightly, and write the date and time the test ended on
the label in the appropriate space. Return the 24-hour specimen container to the office the same
morning you complete the urine collection.
For MLA
1. Provide the patient with the 24-hour specimen container, a collection container, and written
instructions. If the specimen container contains a chemical preservative, provide the patient with
a Safety Data Sheet (SDS; formerly a Material Safety Data Sheet) so that the patient has
Clinical Procedures for Medical Assistants - Elsevier eBook on VitalSource - Kathy Bonewit-West
information regarding the chemical, its hazards, and measures to take to prevent injury and
illness when handling the chemical. Document this information in the patient's medical record.
2. When the patient returns the 24-hour urine specimen container, ask the patient whether he or
she encountered any difficulty in following the instructions for the 24-hour collection. If any
problems occurred that resulted in undercollection or overcollection of urine, the entire collection
process must be repeated.
Clinical Procedures for Medical Assistants - Elsevier eBook on VitalSource - Kathy Bonewit-West