Urine specimen collection from indwelling catheter

[Miossy]

I have a patient with newly inserted with Foley catheter , after 20 minutes there is order to collect urine culture and analysis. Can I collect the specimens from the urinary bag ( since it is newly inserted ) or I still need to get from the urinary port by clamping the catheter.

[OlivetheRN, ADN, BSN, RN]

Well then how do you obtain a sample from an in and out kit? Its a catheter attached to a bag already? You mean the bag is not sterile?

Our in and out kits don't have bags. Our female kits go into a tube and our male kits have a sterile urine cup in them. Everything in an in and out kit is sterile. As posters above have said, urine bags are typically not considered sterile which is why it's much better practice to get a urine sample from the port.

[MunoRN, RN]

I've never seen a non-sterile catheter drainage bag, all the ones commonly used in hospitals are sterile. Just like the catheter, once it's inserted and the outside of it comes into contact with anything non-sterile then the outside of it becomes non-sterile, but the inside of both the bag and the catheter itself are part of a continuous closed system.

If the concern is that a sample would likely be contaminated by taking it from the bag because the outside of the bag is not sterile, then the same concern would be true for the catheter itself.

[JBudd, MSN]

It is sterile while putting it in, and you can take it from the bag during the same procedure. Afterwards, you don't know how long the urine has been sitting there, and the lower system does not remain sterile once it has been opened to drain the bag; which is why you always use the port.

(Don't have to change the whole thing unless you have really old equipment with no access just below the connection of bag to catheter.)

[rkitty198, BSN, RN]

While this is true, the OP's question revolves around a newly inserted catheter.

[JBudd, MSN]

While this is true, the OP's question revolves around a newly inserted catheter.

She said it was 20 minutes later; since it wasn't taken out immediately I would use the port.

[syafiqnazmi]

Hi i am from malaysia...in malaysia the drainage bag tubing has no port for urine sample collection...so how can i obtain urine sample for lab test?

[BettyGirard, BSN]

I've never seen a drainage bag with a "sample" port. I think people are talking about using the normal drain clip at the bottom. The bags indeed start out sterile (you don't want to connect something that's not to the foley be it the drainage bag or the tubing) and you want to maintain the best sterile technique when you change bags or otherwise need to make changes.

We do pull samples from newly installed bags, but our testing is minimal (mostly drug screen). If I was doing urine cultures, I'd defintiely want to get it "fresh from the source." Unless your patient's kidneys are shut down or whatever, it shouldn't take long for a sample from the tube. People tend to collect way more urine than any of the testing actually needs.