Urinalysis

Urinalysis is one of the most practiced, non-invasive point of care tests carried out in a healthcare setting, with an estimated 2.8 billion urinalysis tests performed globally per annum. The test is used to screen and detect many health problems including kidney and liver disease, chronic metabolic diseases including diabetes, and infection, which if not treated appropriately could lead to more serious conditions such as sepsis.

The Situation

Although urinalysis, using urine dip sticks, is routinely carried out across all clinical disciplines and health sectors, best practice is not always adhered to. Workload pressures and conflicting priorities can often lead to inaccurate interval reading of each test reagent and highly subjective interpretation of strip colouration, meaning test results are often inaccurate. In addition, critical to the performance of the dip sticks is the correct storage and handling, ensuring absence of moisture, light and touch all of which are often mismanaged unintentionally through poor in-situ storage or stock rotation.

Consequently, such inaccuracies at point-of-care result in uncertainty of results for the user and samples are sent to laboratories for further analysis, incurring unnecessary costs and increasing burden of demand on the health system and in some cases further delaying diagnosis and treatment.

Results are not always recorded, or only a specific test result is recorded and not always directly to the patient records, leaving gaps in the record of care, potentially missing the indication of underlying issues and therefore timely care and treatment.

The omission to accurately record all test results means that critical data points are being lost along with the opportunity to identify health trends, monitor changes in health status.

Data Generation & Clinical Informatics

In an increasingly demanding and informed healthcare economy, innovation in electronic patient data, underpinned by innovative product design is seen as a major enabler of cost reduction, improved outcomes and better patient journeys. The ability to collect data quickly, locally and at point of care in such a routine testing regime opens a wealth of patient intervention, research and pathway development opportunities. In this new, digital-first era in medicine a clinician, health care professional or researcher armed with UTS has the opportunity to use large volumes of health-care data to accelerate scientific discovery, improve health-care quality, enable personalised medicine, and inform evidence-based policy making.