New Urine collection device

About

There are many problems with the current ‘non-invasive’ methods of urine collection from infants: Currently methods used are ‘clean catch’ or ‘pad’ or ‘bag’ to collect urine: The gold standard ‘clean catch’ involves catching a sample by holding a sterile specimen bottle in the urine stream. However, it can be unpredictable, time consuming and rather messy. The alternative ‘urine collection bags’ and ‘urine collection pads’ are more susceptible to contamination than the clean catch method, due to the close and prolonged contact with the skin around the anogenital area. This contamination leads to false positive results and can result in treating unnecessarily with antibiotics. The ‘pad’ method  is also inconvenient due to the need to squeeze or syringe out the urine for collection. The syringe design makes it difficult to draw up sufficient urine. The ‘bag’ can be distressing, particularly on removal, often leaking and leaving red marks. The standard urine pack is widely used in the UK (both in hospitals and at home by parents /carers), but the risk of cross contamination of urine samples with faecal bacteria matter is a major cause for concern with the need for the sample collection procedures to be repeated – often three times or more.   Solution The Tinkleguard urine collection device is an ergonomically shaped absorbent pad, which sits comfortably over just the genital area (away from the anal area). It is securely positioned (gently attached to the baby /patient’s tummy area), using very low-viscosity silicone adhesive tabs – which are very soft and kind on their skin.   Advantages: Increased accuracy in diagnosis: This urine collection pack provides a more user friendly method, with more accurate (reduced contamination) samples being collected for analysis. Hence, reducing the incidence of ‘false positives’ - which avoids the associated financial costs, emotional costs and the patient safety implications. Improved absorbency: the shaped pad incorporates a sterile medical grade material which effectively absorbs and holds on to the urine (until syringed out) - in order to detect the presence of relevant substances: for example: haemaglobin, nitrate (produced by bacteria in a urinary tract infection), protein, glucose, blood, and ketones. An improved syringe design (with an increased surface area at the base) allows for a more efficient drawing up of urine from the absorbent pad. Improved usability: Better accessibility /understanding: a clearly written step-by-step instruction leaflet with pictorial aids – increases confidence and understanding (to all users) of how to correctly collect a sample using the UCP. This is particularly crucial to users of different cultures and learning abilities. Emotional benefits: These usability features are especially important (not only for medical staff but also for parent/carers who need to use the pack at home) in order to preserve the sterility of the sample and make the experience as stress free as possible.