Low level of adherence to instructions for 24-hour urine collection among hospital outpatients

INTRODUCTION: We hypothesized that patients are poorly informed about proper procedure for 24-hour urine specimen collection and its relevance in determination of biochemical analytes, despite availability of leaflets and webpage with instruction for collection. The aim of this survey was to question outpatients how well are they informed about procedure of 24-hour urine specimen collection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey with 10 questions was done in outpatient laboratory of University Department of Chemistry, Medical School University Hospital Sestre Milosrdnice, Zagreb, Croatia. The study included 59 patients with collected 24-hour urine sample who have consented to participate in the survey. RESULTS: Out of 59 participants, most of them (0.97) were older than 40 years. Internet was not recognized as a source of information (1/59). Almost one third of the patients have changed their drinking habits to collect more urine volume. Although most of the patients (0.60) were aware that the bottle of water is the best choice for the container, almost half of them were collected urine samples in the plastic soft drink bottle. Laboratory staff and physicians often have given information about proper collection procedure, but that information was insufficient. CONCLUSIONS: Patients are usually not aware of importance of proper preanalytical procedure for collecting urine specimen and how improper collection could affect results of requested tests. Education of outpatients, general practitioners and laboratory staff is needed in order to improve sample quality and trueness of results.