PROCEDURE 3-12: Preparing Urine Sediment

Name______Date______Time______

PROCEDURE 3-12: Preparing Urine Sediment

Equipment/Supplies: Patient’s labeled urine specimen, urine centrifuge tubes, transfer pipette, centrifuge (1500–2000 rpm), personal protective equipment, hand disinfectant, surface disinfectant

Standards: Given the needed equipment and a place to work, the student will perform this skill with _____ % accuracy in a total of _____ minutes. (Your instructor will tell you what the percentage and time limits will be before you begin.)

Notes: If the urine is to be tested by chemical reagent strip, perform the dip test before spinning the urine. Preparing a urine specimen of less than 3 mL for sediment is not recommended because that is not enough urine to create a true sediment. However, some patients cannot provide a large amount of urine.

In such cases, document the volume on the chart under sediment to ensure proper interpretation of results. Centrifuge maintenance requires periodic checks to ensure that the speed and timing are correct.

Document this information on the maintenance log.

Key: 4 = Satisfactory0 = UnsatisfactoryNA = This step is not counted

Procedure Steps / self / PARTNER / INSTRUCTOR
1. Washed your hands / □ / □ / □
2. Assembled the equipment / □ / □ / □
3. Put on personal protective equipment / □ / □ / □
4. Verified that the names on the specimen container and the report form were the same / □ / □ / □
5. Swirled the specimen to mix it; poured 10 mL of well-mixed urine into a labeled centrifuge tube or standard system tube and capped the tube with a plastic cap or parafilm / □ / □ / □
6. Centrifuged the sample at 1500 rpm for 5 minutes / □ / □ / □
7. When the centrifuge stopped, removed the tubes; made sure that no tests were to be performed first on the supernatant; removed the caps and poured off the supernatant, leaving 0.5 to 1.0 mL of it; suspended the sediment again by aspirating up and down with a transfer pipette or followed the manufacturer’s directions for a standardized system / □ / □ / □
8. Properly cared for and disposed of equipment and supplies; cleaned the work area with surface disinfectant; removed personal protective equipment; washed your hands / □ / □ / □

Calculation

Total Possible Points: _____

Total Points Earned: _____ Multiplied by 100 = _____

Divided by Total Possible Points = _____%

PassFail



Student’s signature ______Date ______

Partner’s signature ______Date ______

Instructor’s signature ______Date ______