If your doctor thinks you may have a urinary tract infection they will ask you to collect a mid-stream urine sample.
Your urine sample is going to be tested to detect any bacteria that may have caused your symptoms. Normally, there are no bacteria in your urine, so if the test detects some then you are likely to have an infection.
It’s important the sample isn’t contaminated by other bacteria such as those on your hands or on the area around the opening of the urethra – the tube that carries urine from your bladder.
Bacteria are everywhere on our bodies and in the environment
What to do:
- You will be given a sterile pot with a lid and a bag in which to put it.
- Urine is collected after you start voiding, so as to catch the middle of the stream.
- This is the cleanest part of the urine as the first bit of urine may pick up some bacteria from the skin.
Steps:
- Wash hands
- Remove the lid from the pot. Don’t touch the inner surfaces
- Clean or wipe your genital area:
- Male – retract the foreskin (if uncircumcised) while peeing
- Female – sit on the toilet seat and keep your legs apart.
- Pass a small amount of urine into the toilet – to a count of three Then fill the pot to about half full. Pass the rest into the toilet bowl. Replace the lid and tighten
- Several tests can be ordered from one sample of urine: pH, protein, glucose, ketones, blood and special gravity
First Stream
If your doctor is testing you for chlamydia or gonorrhoea using a urine test, they will prefer you to collect the sample from the first part of the urine stream. The process is exactly the same as above however you do not need to void some urine first before collecting it into the jar.
