A patient delivers a 24-hour urine specimen to the lab. The specimen processor notices that there is a lot less urine in the container than most specimens and asks if the last specimen was included. The patient says yes but mentions that he got up during the night to urinate and forgot to collect that specimen. Should the specimen be accepted for testing? Explain your answer.
Answer (2)
ANSWER:
No, the specimen is missing a critical portion of urine. ;
The urine specimen should not be accepted for testing since it is missing the overnight collection. Missing any part of the 24-hour urine collection can lead to inaccurate test results. The patient should restart the collection to ensure complete data for testing.
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