Specimen Requirements
Preferred option: Preserved urine in tubes.
Non-preferred option: Unpreserved urine in a cup, which must be refrigerated and received within 24 hours of collection.
Alternately, refrigerated urine or suprapubic aspirate in syringe with needle removed.
Supplies for Submission
- Urine culture transport tube containing boric acid and sodium formate/borate preservative held at room temperature for up to 48 hours e.g., BD Vacutainer urine culture transport tube - OR -
- Sterile screw capped cup refrigerated for up to 24 hours
Specimen Collection
Please indicate urine collection method e.g., catheter, clean catch, etc.
Click
here to view urine collection procedure.
Storage Requirements
Refrigerated.
Preserved urine is stable if stored at room temperature for 2 days after collection.
Unpreserved urine is stable if refrigerated for 1 day after collection.
Causes for Rejections
Specimens with the following conditions are not accepted:
- preserved samples arriving at the lab more than 2 days after collection
- unpreserved samples arriving at the lab more than 1 day after collection
- submitted in expired transport media, viral transport media, or formalin fixative
- submitted in leaky container or non-sterile container
- swabs
- frozen or contaminated samples